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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

division 
BS    657    .L68    1851 
Lord,    Eleazar,    1788-1871 
The   epoch  of   creation 


The  John  M.  Krehs  Dunation. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/epochofcreationsOOIord 


THE 


EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 


THE    SCRIPTURE    DOCTRINE 

CONTEASTED   WITH 

THE    GEOLOGICAL    THEORY. 


BY 

ELEAZAR    LORD 

WITH    AN"    INTRODUCTION, 

BY 

RICHARD   W.   DICKINSON,  D.D. 


NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER,  145  NASSAU  STREET. 

1851. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851,  by 

ELEAZAR    LORD, 

In  tho  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


C.  W.  BENEDICT 
Stcreotyper  and  Printer 
201  William  Street. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Whatever  diversity  of  view  might  be  supposed  to 
exist  in  relation  to  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have  exerted  a  mighty 
influence  over  the  human  mind,  in  awakening  its 
energies  and  directing  its  inquiries.  Simply  to  ascer- 
tain the  meaning  of  this  book,  we  call  the  Bible,  and 
to  set  forth  the  high  authority  of  its  claims  on  the 
belief  of  all  men,  how  many  languages  have  been 
mastered,  philosophies  investigated,  histories  studied, 
and  regions  explored.  Difficulties  of  interpretation  have 
but  served  as  incentives  to  higher  mental  attainments, 
while  skeptical  objections  have  only  impelled  to  deeper 
and  more  varied  researches,  until  at  last,  it  may  be 
said,  that  every  department  of  human  learning  has 
been  rendered  tributary  to  the  illustration  and  defenoe 
of  revealed  truth.  We  need  not  institute  any  invidi- 
ous comparisons  between  the  champions  and  the 
assailants  of  revelation  ;  much  less  challenge  its  ene- 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

mies  to  meet  its  friends  on  the  fair  field  of  open  con- 
troversy. Now  and  then,  some  one,  mistaking  his 
prejudices  for  convictions,  may  talk  loudly  or  scribble 
boastingly,  in  the  hope  of  securing  a  little  notoriety 
to  his  name ;  but  they  who  are  well  read  in  the  con- 
troversies which  Christianity  has  occasioned,  will  be 
slow  to  advance  objections  which  have  been  so  often 
answered  or  to  resort  to  sophistry  which  has  been 
repeatedly  exposed  ;  and  still  more  backward  to  em- 
ploy missiles  which  may  be  so  easily  turned  to  their 
own  discomfiture.  Such,  too,  is  the  lodgment  which 
Christianity  has  gained  in  the  public  mind,  so  deep 
and  wide-spread  the  conviction  that  it  is  inseparable 
from  the  best  interests  of  society — allied,  as  it  is,  with 
the  purest  characters,  the  safest  counsels,  the  truest 
confidences,  and  the  dearest  charities — that  whoever 
shall  publicly  aim  to  undermine  its  authority,  and 
paralyze  its  influence,  must  necessarily  labor  under  a 
disadvantage.  Hence,  infidelity  at  the  present  day 
changes  its  forms  only  that  it  may  the  more  effectu- 
ally conceal  its  designs.  Now  assuming  some  new 
phase  of  philosophy,  and  then  intercepting  our  view 
by  stratified  rocks  and  fossil  remains  ;  now  blazoning 
the  wonders  of  mesmerism,  or  the  discoveries  of  phre- 
nology, and  then  wrapping  itself  in  mystery,  or  lying 
encoiled  in  the  bosom  of  a  myth.  But  being  less 
open,  it  may  be  only  the  more  insidious,  or  if  less  vir- 
ulent, it  is  only  the  more  dangerous  :  and  especially 
to  those  who,  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  what  is  called 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  the  spirit  of  the  age,"  would  acquaint  themselves 
with  any  and  every  publication,  though  its  only  claim 
to  notice  may  be  that  it  is  the  latest  issue.  Works 
which  would  shock  the  moral  sense  of  the  community, 
and  outrage  every  pious  sentiment,  are  not  to  be 
dreaded  ;  the  infamy  of  such  writings  would  coun- 
teract their  malignity.  The  danger  is,  not  that  reve- 
lation will,  be  rudely  assailed,  and  overcome  by  invec- 
tive and  satire  ;  but  that  it  will  be  betrayed  by  a 
kiss ;  that  even  its  professed  adherents,  mistaking 
theories  for  arguments,  and  assumptions  for  facts,  may, 
in  some  important  particulars,  waive  its  fair  and  obvi- 
ous meaning  to  save  its  credit  with  the  demi-savants 
of  the  age. 

The  fact  that  (rod  has  made  a  revelation  of  his 
mind  and  will  to  man,  may  not  be  openly  denied  ;  but 
while  his  Word  is  admitted  and  professedly  respected, 
theories  are  broached  at  variance  with  its  doctrines, 
or  even  irreconcileable  with  its  origin  ;  and  which, 
being  associated  with  all  that  currently  passes  for  phi- 
losophy and  science,  are,  therefore,  only  the  more 
imposing  to  those  who  would  be  held  in  repute  for 
their  mental  independence  and  enlargement.  Minds 
of  this  class  are  always  the  first  to  be  captivated  by 
anything  which  has  the  aspect  of  being  a  new  view ; 
and  hence,  should  infidel  sentiments  ever  obtain  in  the 
community,  it  will  be  chiefly  through  their  influence. 

Let  it  be  considered,  then,  that  whatever  tends 
either  to  pervert  or  to  modify  the  doctrines  of  the  Gros- 


VI  INTKODUCTION. 

pel,  is  false  to  Christ ;  and  in  like  manner,  whatever 
tends  to  insinuate  doubt  as  to  the  truthfulness  of  any 
portion  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  false  to  Moses — though 
anything  at  variance  with  the  obvious  teachings  of 
either  the  New  or  the  Old  Testament,  must  re-act  to 
the  disparagement  of  the  other.  The  one  necessarily 
involves  the  other  ;  so  that  if  the  inspiration  of  the 
Gospel  be  admitted,  that  of  the  Pentateuch  cannot  be 
consistently  denied  ;  or  if  the  inspiration  of  the  latter 
be  abandoned,  that  of  the  former  cannot  be  proved. 
This  is  understood  by  the  opponents  of  the  Bible ; 
though  many  who  admit  the  great  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel, seem  to  imagine  that  because  Judaism  has  been 
abrogated,  it  matters  not  in  what  sense  we  regard  the 
teachings  of  Moses  :  they  are  of  no  practical  moment 
to  us  as  Christians,  and  certainly  need  constitute  no 
limits  to  the  speculations  of  the  human  mind. 

In  some  instances,  we  are  willing  to  admit,  that  the 
lovers  of  science  have  not  been  aware  of  the  tendency 
of  their  own  views  ;  they  have  been  misled  by  the 
spirit  of  theorizing,  or  through  a  desire  to  make  to 
themselves  a  distinctive  name  by  deviating  from  re- 
ceived hypotheses  ;  but  in  other  instances,  objections  to 
the  Mosaic  record  have  been  stated  in  so  plausible  a 
manner,  that  even  some  who  hold  to  its  credibility 
have  been  inclined  to  force  its  clear  and  admitted  import 
into  harmony  with  the  positions  of  a  Babbage  or  a 
Maillet.  But  if  we  are  to  reconcile  the  theories  of 
geologists  with  the  teachings  of  Moses,  we  endanger 


INTRODUCTION.  yii 

the  record  as  effectually  as  we  should  the  Gospel  itself, 
by  attempting  to  harmonize  its  doctrines  with  the 
pre- conceptions  of  the  carnal  mind ;  nor  could  there 
be  an  end  to  such  a  process,  until  we  found  ourselves 
hand  in  hand  with  the  enemies  of  revelation,  in  demo- 
lishing its  divine  authority.  No  ;  let  us  meet  all  ob- 
jections fairly  put — whenever  an  answer  is  practicable ; 
but  when  it  is  not — it  is  legitimate  to  fall  back  on  the 
authority  of  the  Bible.  Here  is  our  vantage  ground  : 
all  arguments  against  the  Bible  can  never  outweigh 
the  arguments  in  its  favor. 

We  may  be  sure  that  nothing  short  of  a  revelation 
could  be  accompanied  by  such  an  array  of  proofs  ;  but 
we  can  never  be  sure  that  all  objections  against  the 
Bible  do  not  arise  from  either  the  limited  nature  of 
our  faculties,  the  perversion  of  reason,  or  a  misappre- 
hension of  the  facts  in  any  given  case.  Certain  it  is, 
that  no  theory  can  adduce  a  moiety  of  the  evi- 
dence which  goes  to  establish  the  authenticity  and 
genuineness  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Reason  and 
revelation  are  traceable  to  the  same  high  source. 
Science  proper  cannot  be  divorced  from  religion. 
G-od's  works  cannot  contradict  his  Word :  hence 
the  presumption  that  any  conclusion  from  a  survey 
of  his  works  which  clashes  with  the  intimations  of 
his  Word,  is  untenable,  and  will  yet  yield  to  some 
more  impartial  or  profound  analysis  of  physical  phe- 
nomena. Objections  to  the  Mosaic  record  may  be 
raised  on  divers  grounds  ;  and  if  we  accommodate  its 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

sense  to  one,  why  not  to  another,  and  still  another  ? 
If  we  are  at  liberty  to  abandon  the  cosmogony  of  the 
Pentateuch,  why  not,  also,  the  fall  of  man,  the  unity 
of  the  race,  the  origin  of  animal  sacrifices,  and  the 
universality  of  the  Deluge, — until  the  whole  record  is 
marred  by  the  inroads  of  neology,  or  sunk  in  the 
excavations  of  geology. 

But  whatever  the  form  of  such  objections  or  under' 
whatever  names  they  are  advanced,  they  all  have  the 
same  tendency,  and  that  is,  to  invalidate  the  inspira- 
tion and  authority  of  the  Pentateuch ;  and  hence,  in 
relation  to  the  subject  to  which  our  introduction  has 
especial  reference,  we  are  reduced  to  this  alternative  : 
whether  to  believe  Moses,  or  to  adopt  the  generaliza- 
tions of  some  "  hammer-bearing  philosopher  ?" 

But  which  should  be  the  more  competent  to  instruct 
us — a  man  whom  God  had  raised  up,  and  inspired  to 
be  the  historian  of  creation,  or  one  who  relies  on  his 
own  limited  and  superficial  understanding  as  to  what 
the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth  has  or  has  not 
done  ?  "Which  merits  the  readier  credence — a  record 
which  has  more  historical  and  moral  testimony  in  its 
support  than  any  other  in  the  world  ;  or  a  science 
which  as  yet  has  led  only  a  few  scattered  individuals 
to  collect,  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  among  them 
has  admitted,  "  some  materials  for  future  gene- 
ralizations ?" — a  record  which  preserves  the  same 
lucid  distinctness  and  commanding  unity  through  a 
period  of  four  thousand  years  ;  or  a  science  which  is 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

but  of  yesterday's  growth,  and  embraces  almost  as 
many  different  theories,  and  leads  to  almost  as  many 
different  conclusions,  as  the  number  of  its  teachers  ? — 
a  cosmogony,  which,  being  in  keeping  with  the  sub- 
lime idea  of  creative  energy,  implies  the  supernatural ; 
or  one,  which  having  originated  in  an  induction  from 
supposed  existing  causes,  excludes,  and  stigmatizes  as 
unscientific,  all  that  is  miraculous  in  the  works  as 
well  as  in  the  Word  of  the  Creator  ? 

We  admit  that,  in  some  of  our  modern  treatises  on 
geology,  there  is  much  that  is  imposing  and  even  fas- 
cinating to  the  imagination,  because  it  borders  on  the 
nature  of  new  discoveries ;  nor  do  we  presume  to 
deny  the  facts  from  which  sage  inferences  are  de- 
duced ;  but  where  is  the  proof  that  geology  has  as 
yet  legitimately  accounted  for  the  former  changes  on 
the  earth's  surface,  much  less  for  the  time  and  man- 
ner of  its  origin  ?  Where  is  the  consistency  of  geolo- 
gical theories  ?  What  is  the  theory  of  any  one  writer 
on  the  subject,  but  the  construction  which  he  has 
seen  fit  to  put  on  the  physical  phenomena  of  the 
globe,  as  being  the  exclusive  effects,  in  his  view,  of  the 
ordinary  operation  of  natural  causes  ?  If  Smith  may 
conflict  in  his  geological  views  with  Buckland,  and 
Lyell  with  Lamarck  ;  or  if  the  author  of  the  "  Foot- 
prints" may  oppose  the  development  theory  of  the 
author  of  the  "  Vestiges,"  with  what  propriety,  we 
ask,  can  either  demand  that  we  shall  substitute  his 
understanding  of  the  Mosaic  record  of  the  creation  in 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

the  place  of  our  own,  or  forfeit  the  respect  of  scientific 
men. 

If  geologists  may  draw  different  conclusions  from 
the  changes  in  the  organic  and  the  inorganic  world 
which  are  now  in  progress,  by  what  law  of  evidence 
are  we  bound  either  to  harmonize  the  Mosaic  record 
with  their  conflicting  theories,  or  to  discard  its  author- 
ity ? 

The  work  of  creation  was  necessarily  a  supernatural 
work  ;  and  hence,  all  reasoning  from  the  general  laws 
of  nature,  which  in  their  operation  were  subsequent 
to  the  work  of  creation,  is  as  irrelevant  in  explanation 
of  the  Mosaic  account,  as  the  argument  drawn  from 
universal  experience  in  disparagement  of  the  miracles 
re  corded  in  Holy  Writ.  Be  it  so,  that  great  changes 
have  for  thousands  of  years  been  going  on  in  the 
organic  texture  of  the  globe,  this  does  not  legitimate 
the  inference  that  the  world,  when  created,  was  not  in 
a  perfect  state — having  the  great  distinctive  features 
of  land  and  water,  and  adapted  to  the  immediate  and 
most  exuberant  production  of  plants  and  animals  ; 
and  though  we  may  see  in  what  way  soils  are  formed, 
and  by  what  action  rocks  are  worn  away,  and  how 
what  is  now  land  may  have  once  been  a  lake  or  the 
ocean,  still,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  act  of  creation 
was  any  less  a  miracle  ;  nor  that  those  wonderful  stra- 
tified formations  on  which  so  much  stress  has  been 
laid  in  support  of  certain  theories,  were  not  the  result 
of  causes  acting  with  a  rapidity  and  a  force,  of  which, 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

with  all  our  boasted  knowledge  of  natural  philosophy 
and  chemistry,  we  can  form  no  adequate  conception. 
To  admit  the  original  act  of  creation,  and  to  attempt 
to  account  for  it  on  natural  principles,  or  to  prescribe 
the  mode  in  which  the  primeval  creation  was  effected, 
is  preposterous  in  the  extreme  ;  and  he  who  so  far 
presumes,  only  exposes  himself  to  the  pertinent 
rebuke  :  "  Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth  ?  declare  if  thou  hast  understanding. 
Who  hath  laid  the  measure  thereof  if  thou  knowest ; 
or  who  hath  stretched  out  the  line  upon  it  ?  Where- 
upon are  the  foundations  thereof  fastened  ;  or  who 
hath  laid  the  corner-stone  thereof  ?" 

It  is  of  the  nature  of  science  to  be  governed  by 
known  laws ;  but  it  does  not  follow  from  our  know- 
ledge of  natural  causes  that  there  is  no  supernatural 
agency.  No  ;  let  natural  science  not  overstep  its  legi- 
timate limits,  nor  venture  to  trench  on  the  science  of 
Heaven's  revealed  will ;  a  science,  which,  though  it 
can  adduce  only  historical  and  moral  evidence  in  its 
support,  is,  by  the  very  nature  of  evidence,  entitled  to 
equal  weight  with  any  mathematical  demonstration. 
We  yield  to  no  one  in  our  conviction  of  the  value  of 
scientific  researches  and  discoveries ;  nor  are  we  back- 
ward in  our  endeavors  to  resolve  whatever  is  only  seem- 
ingly miraculous  into  natural  causes,  or  to  explain 
effects  if  possible,  on  philosophical  principles  ;  but  to  our 
mind,  the  natural  implies  the  supernatural,  as  certainly 
as  the  existence  of  the  creature  that  of  the  Creator. 


Xll  *  INTRODUCTION. 

Now,  to  suppose,  from  an  observation  of  natural 
causes  and  effects,  that  the  world  could  not  have  been 
created  and  finished  "  in  the  space  of  six  days  and  all 
very  good,"  is  as  conclusive  as  to  infer  that  man  was 
not  created  in  one  day,  because  years  are  necessary  to 
the  maturity  of  the  infant,  or  that  the  trees  were  not, 
because  it  requires  a  long  period  of  time  to  develope 
the  acorn.  Aside  from  this,  however,  to  attempt  to 
decide  the  epoch  of  creation  by  science,  seems  to  us 
to  betray  as  profound  ignorance  of  the  principles  of 
evidence,  as  if  one  should  endeavor  to  explain  the  origin 
of  Christianity  by  mathematics.  The  question  respect- 
ing the  origin  and  epoch  of  the  creation,  is  not  a 
scientific,  it  is  simply  an  historical  question  ;  to  be 
decided  as  we  would  ascertain  the  correctness  of  any 
other  point  appertaining  to  the  department  of  history. 
If  the  world  is  older  than  the  Mosaic  account  inti- 
mates, we  may  expect  to  find  among  the  antediluvians 
and  in  the  earliest  state  of  society  of  which  we  have 
any  knowlege,  some  indications  of  a  higher  antiquity  ; 
but  if  none  are  to  be  found — if,  on  the  contrary,  all 
our  researches  into  the  early  condition  of  society  only 
go  to  show  that  the  beginning  of  the  world  we  inhabit 
cannot  be  reasonably  referred  to  a  more  remote  period 
than  that  assigned  by  Moses,  while  his  account  is  sup- 
ported by  the  most  exact  chronological  computations 
drawn  from  well-known  and  indisputable  historical 
facts,  then,  all  that  remains  for  us,  is  to  receive  the 
testimony  of  Moses,  or  to  reject  it ;  and,  in  the  latter 


INTKODTTCTION.  Xlll 

case,  to  reject  it  simply  on  the  ground  that  it  is  so 
defective  as  to  be  unworthy  of  reasonable  credence. 
Science  has  no  logical  connection  with  the  point  at 
issue.  It  cannot  disprove  what  it  is  not  competent  to 
establish.  If  it  be  received,  it  must  be,  not  on  the 
ground  of  any  scientific  deductions,  but  solely  on  the 
ground  of  testimony  ;  and  hence  it  is  a  point  not  to 
be  either  overthrown  or  even  supported  by  the  natural 
sciences  ;  but  to  be  believed  on  the  credit  of  revela- 
tion. "  By  faith,  we  understand,  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  Grod."  In  all  our  reasonings, 
this  great  fact,  that  in  the  beginning  Grod  created  and 
completed  the  heaven  and  the  earth  in  the  space  of 
six  days,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  starting  point,  like  a 
first  truth  in  philosophy,  or  an  axiom  in  geometry. 
He,  therefore,  who  so  far  transcends  the  legitimate 
object  of  all  true  science,  as  to  deny  or  even  to 
exclude  the  supernatural,  must  needs  take  unwar- 
rantable liberties  with  the  word  of  Grod,  and  expose 
himself  to  the  charge,  if  not  of  downright  infidelity,  at 
least  of  rash  conjecture,  extravagant  fancies,  and  mar- 
vellous credulity.  Nothing  may  be  further  from  the 
intentions  of  our  geologists  than  to  afford  material  for 
sceptical  thoughts  ;  some  of  them  profess  to  believe  in 
Divine  revelation  ;  but  no  one  can  surrender  his  mind 
to  the  spirit  of  theorizing  without  becoming  as  unsafe 
a  guide  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  philosophy  and 
faith,  as  the  partisan  of  any  cause  is,  in  matters  of 
conscience    and    good   morals.     It   is   the  judgment, 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

rather  than  the  integrity  of  those  who,  par  eminence, 
claim  to  be  the  scientific  guardians  of  the  Bible,  that 
wc  are  constrained  to  doubt ;  nor  can  we  welcome 
their  aid  in  support  of  the  Mosaic  record,  if  we  must 
accommodate  its  sense  to  the  theories  which  they,  in 
turn,  may  be  induced  to  advance  or  to  follow. 

A  firm,  cordial  belief  in  Grod's  revelation  to  man, 
limits,  while  it  awakens  the  spirit  of  philosophic 
inquiry  ;  and  had  its  study  been  pursued  in  connection 
with  physical  researches,  its  advocates  would  have 
been  spared  the  pains  of  combating  many  a  theory 
which  leads,  by  necessary  inference,  to  its  rejection. 
We  are  not  exciting  a  groundless  apprehension  ;  much 
less  do  we  betray  a  state  of  mind  in  unison 
with  such  prejudices  as  were  arrayed  against  Gal- 
lileo.  To  confound  the  advocates  of  the  Mosaic 
record  with  the  ignorant,  bigoted,  and  persecuting 
priests  of  a  dark  age,  is,  to  say  the  least,  not  very  con- 
sistent with  well-grounded  claims  to  superior  acumen_ 
The  discoveries  of  that  much-injured  astronomer 
did  not  conflict  with  revelation  ;  but  some  of  our 
modern  geological  theories  clash  directly  with  the 
teachings  of  Moses.  Even  to  refer  the  period  designated 
by  "  the  beginning"  to  millions  of  ages  back,  in  order 
to  account  for  certain  stratified  formations  and  fos- 
sil remains,  is  to  contradict  the  record  which  refers 
the  creation  of  those  vegetable  substances  of  which 
beds  of  coal  are  composed,  and  of  those  animals  of 
which  fossils  arc   discovered,  to  the  third,  fifth,  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

sixth  days  ;  or  that  the  lights  of  heaven  existed  long 
before  the  Mosaic  era,  and  that  they  then,  owing  to 
further  purification  of  the  atmosphere,  on  the  fourth 
day  became  visible  in  the  firmament  and  assumed 
new  relations  to  the  newly  modified  earth,  is  a  suppo- 
sition which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  declaration 
that  God  made  two  great  lights,  and  then  set  them  in 
the  firmament.  Hence,  among  the  supporters  of 
such  thories  may  be  found  those  who  assume  the 
ground  that  their  faith  in  revelation  has  no  connection 
with  their  views  of  the  work  of  creation  ;  who  aban- 
don not  only  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation,  but 
the  unity  of  the  race,  the  universality  of  the  Deluge, 
and  the  reason  for  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath. 
Among  this  class,  too,  may  be  found  those  who  discard 
the  scriptural  belief  that  death  was  the  consequence  of 
sin,  and  that  animal  sacrifices  were  of  divine  appoint- 
ment; and  who  are  wont  to  disparage  the  credibility 
of  the  miraculous  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  on 
the  ground  that  all  the  early  nations  were  extremely 
prone  to  hyperbolize  !  Through  the  tendency  of  neolo- 
gical  views  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  geological  specu- 
lations on  the  other,  it  has  become  not  uncommon  to 
represent  the  Pentateuch  as  a  collection  of  popular 
traditions,  having  scarcely  any  more  foundation  in  fact 
than  the  legends  of  classical  antiquity  ;  and,  with  the 
writings  of  Herodotus  or  the  poems  of  Homer,  to  be 
philosophically  referred  to  an  age  of  fabulous  uncer- 
tainty.    Sometimes  ridicule  is  employed  ;    then   dif- 


XVI  INTRODUCTION". 

Acuities  are  insinuated  under  the  mask  of  philoso- 
phy or  of  science ;  and  then  again,  to  quiet  all  appre- 
hensions, we  are  gravely  told  that  the  Bible  is  not  a 
revelation  of  science!  or  that  it  can  be  readily 
explained  in  accordance  with  geological  deductions  by 
putting  a  different  construction  on  this  or  that  part, 
or  by  resolving  the  particulars  of  the  Mosaic  account 
into  general  terms  or  figurative  language.  But  thus 
it  is,  that,  through  the  medium  of  the  Pentateuch,  a 
blow  is  often  struck  at  Christianity  itself.  We  are 
not  deceived  ;  it  will  be  found  on  inquiry,  that  they 
who  attach  no  importance  to  the  Mosaic  account  in 
order  to  secure  belief  in  their  own  theories  repect- 
ing  the  work  of  creation,  are  inclined  to  trace  the 
Mosaic  enactments  to  the  prior  customs  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and,  in  some  instances,  have  no  faith  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Let  us  then  thrust  the  Mosaic  record  aside,  and 
what  have  we  gained  ?  Does  it  relieve  our  laboring 
minds  to  be  able  to  read  that,  at  a  period  too  remote  to 
be  measured  even  by  the  power  of  imagination,  Grod 
created  the  primordial  elements  ?  and  that,  after  an 
almost  boundless  interval  of  time,  he  undertook  what 
is  called  "  the  work  of  the  first  day,"  and  which  took 
him  a  thousand  years  to  finish  ?  Does  the  fond  notion 
of  myriads  of  ages  having  been  employed  to  render  this 
earth  a  fit  habitation  for  man,  relieve  us  from  the 
necessity  of  admitting  some  supernatural  agency  in 
the   beginning,  or  render    any   more  comprehensible 


INTRODUCTION".  XVli 

the  time  and  the  mode  of  creative  energy  in  its  mate- 
rial manifestations  ?  Does  it  exalt  our  conceptions  of 
the  great  God  to  think,  that  after  experimenting 
through  countless  ages,  at  the  expense  of  successive 
dynasties  of  beasts  and  reptiles,  he  found  himself 
under  the  necessity  of  reducing  all  his  work  again  to 
chaos,  and  of  doing  it  all  over  to  adapt  its  condition, 
and  attemper  its  climate  to  the  reasoning  brain  of  the 
last  product  of  his  skill?  Or,  are  we  more  deeply 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  greatness  and  glory, 
when,  by  availing  ourselves  of  the  kindly  proffered 
aids  of  geology  and  chemistry,  we  have  contrived  to 
exclude  all  moral  ends  in  the  work  of  creation — thus 
reducing  the  intelligent  immaterial  Creator  into  a 
necessary  mechanical  principle  of  motion,  groping  its 
way  through  illimitable  space,  and  at  last  working 
itself  up,  by  chemical  affinities,  into  outward  shapes 
and  things  ? 

For  ourselves,  the  Chaldean  cosmogony,  in  which 
the  monster  Omoroca  fell  subdued  beneath  the  victo- 
rious arm  of  the  god  Belus,  and  the  world  was  formed 
out  of  her  substance  ;  the  Hindoo,  in  which  the  Divine 
idea  deposited  in  the  waters,  first  with  a  thought 
created,  a  productive  seed  which  became  an  egg,  and 
in  which  Brahma  sat  inactive  a  whole  year  of  the 
Creator ;  the  Egyptian,  which  derives  the  visible 
universe  from  an  eternal  darkness  in  a  boundless 
abyss  ;  the  Epicurean,  which  ascribes  all  things  to  a 
fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  ;  or  the  Cartesian  vorti- 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

cal  theory,  which  teaches  that  a  formative  circular 
motion  was  originally  impressed  on  the  elements  of 
matter, — seems  to  us  not  more  unworthy  of  him  whom 
we  call  God  than  some  of  the  theories  of  modern 
geology,  and  certainly  quite  as  worthy  of  displacing 
the  Mosaic  record  in  our  belief. 

It  is  by  a  comparison  of  all  the  pagan  cosmogonies 
with  that  of  Moses,  that  we  come  to  give  our  judg- 
ment in  favor  of  his  account  of  the  work  of  creation, 
as  being  the  most  simple,  connected,  and  intelligible, — 
in  every  respect  free  from  those  wild  and  distorted 
images  or  most  fanciful  conceits,  which  form  the  charac- 
teristics of  all  ancient  mythology  ;  and  in  like  manner, 
it  is  by  looking  into  our  modern  cosmogonies,  and  disco- 
vering their  bold  assumptions,  illogical  generalizations, 
and,  above  all,  their  flagrant  want  of  consistency,  that 
we  are  led  to  prize  the  more  highly  the  G-enesis  of 
Moses. 

How  unlike  the  god  of  modern  science  is  that  great 
Being  whose  account  of  his  creative  work  his  servant 
Moses  was  commanded  to  transmit  to  all  coming 
ages  !  How  presumptuous  to  divine  his  unsearchable 
ways  by  the  experiments  of  the  chemist  or  the  classi- 
fications of  the  geologist !  How  preposterous  to  limit 
his  creative  energy  by  those  aqueous  and  igneous 
agents,  and  those  destroying,  transporting,  and  repro- 
ductive agents   which  some   self-complacent  theorist 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

boasts  of  having  discovered,  and  thinks  he  under- 
stands !  How  impossible  for  the  finite  mind  to  rise 
to  an  adequate  conception  of  his  power — 

"  Whose  word  leaped  forth  at  once  to  its  effect ; 
Who  called  for  things  that  were  not,  and  they  came  !" 

Because  man,  with  his  wondrous  knowledge  of 
chemical  agents  and  mechanical  forces,  of  sedimentary 
deposits  and  fossil  remains,  concludes  that  the  Creator 
of  the  ends  of  the  earth  must  have  proceeded  in  a 
particular  way  and  taken  a  great  length  of  time  to 
finish  his  work,  does  it  follow  that  his  conclusion  is 
not  a  mere  presumptuous  conjecture  ?  No  ;  "  ye  do 
err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of 
God."  "  His  thoughts  are  not  as  our  thoughts,  nor 
his  ways  as  our  ways."  The  mysteries  of  his  works 
are  as  far  above  our  conceptions  as  the  mysteries  of 
his  nature. 

So  far  as  we  can  understand  his  agency,  Grod 
accomplishes  his  ends  by  the  simplest  and  most  direct 
means  : — 

"  In  human  works,  though  labored  on  with  pain 
A  thousand  movements  scarce  one  purpose  gain ; 
In  God's,  one  single  can  its  end  produce, 
Yet  serves  to  second  too,  some  other  use." 

We  delight  to  contemplate  him  as  seen  every  where 
in  the  works  of  his  hands  ;  to  look  out  on  the  ever-vary- 
ing brilliancy  and  grandeur  of  the  landscape ;  to  gaza 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

on  the  towering  rocks,  and  the  cloud-capped  moun- 
tains, and  the  wide-spread  ocean,  or  to  look  up  to  the 
magnificence  of  worlds  on  worlds  which  stud  the 
firmament  like  gems  of  light,  and  amid  all  these 
phenomena  to  see  the  evidences  of  an  agent  which, 
though  invisible  to  us,  is  adequate  to  the  production 
of  all  the  physical  wonders  by  which  we  are  surround- 
ed. Natural  science,  with  all  its  philosophical  appa- 
ratus and  boasted  generalizations,  can  only  secure  to 
me  a  more  extended  vision,  or  a  more  thorough  scru- 
tiny ;  but  it  cannot  inspire  me  with  more  adoring 
conceptions  of  the  great  First  Cause  of  all  things  than 
a  few  simple  expressions  that  may  be  gathered 
from  the  inspired  record  of  Grod's  creation.  It  may 
conduct  me  to  distant  worlds,  or  carry  me  into  the 
dark  and  cavernous  recesses  of  nature ;  it  may  point 
me  to  the  inscriptions  on  the  rocks,  or  to  the  teachings 
of  long-buried  organisms  ;  but  it  can  offer  nothing, 
do  nothing,  to  impress  me  with  so  profound  a  sense 
of  the  inscrutable  greatness  and  majesty  of  the 
Divine  Being — as  a  poor  Hebrew,  the  son  of  a  bond- 
woman, has  done,  by  the  sublime  manner  in  which  he 
has  announced  the  work  of  creation:  "  In  the  begin- 
ning Gtod  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth  :" — a 
declaration  which  carries  its  own  heaven-born  evidence 
with  it,  flashing  like  a  ray  of  light  across  the  darkness 
of  the  unassisted  mind,  whenever  it  feels  after  God. 
Nor  less  impressive  are  the  succeeding  announce- 
ments :  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light  and  there 


INTRODUCTION.  Xxi 

ivas  light :  Let  there  be  a  firmament,  and  there  was 
a  firmament:  Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be 
gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry 
land  appear,  and  it  was  so.  No  representation  of 
power  can  be  compared  with  this ;  nor  has  the  sub- 
limity of  the  narration  been  equalled,  much  less  sur- 
passed, by  any  subsequent  writer. 

He  who  "  spake  and  it  was  done,  who  commanded 
and  it  stood  fast,"  could  have  created  the  world  in  a 
moment  of  time  ;  but  such  an  act  would  have  been 
altogether  incomprehensible  even  to  those  created 
intelligences  who  were  witnesses  of  his  works,  and 
who  could  not  then,  as  they  did  when  the  heavens 
and  earth  were  finished,  "  have  sung  together  and 
shouted  for  joy."  Nor  could  the  historian  have 
added  anything  to  the  first  verse  of  G-enesisin, 
explanation  of  an  instantaneous  work  of  such  magni- 
tude ;  while  the  bare  affirmation  of  its  having  been 
instantly  performed,  though  thus  imparting  to  us  the 
knowledge  of  a  fact  which  the  unassisted  mind  might 
have  vainly  essayed  to  excogitate,  would  have  afforded 
but  little  satisfaction. 

But  while  the  narrative  conveys  to  us  this  stupen- 
dous idea  of  an  uncreated  omnipotent  will,  it  furnishes 
us  with  an  account  of  the  work  of  creation  which  is 
at  once  comprehensible,  instructive,  and  deeply  im- 
pressive. It  does  in  no  wise  gratify  a  wanton  curiosity, 
nor  deviate  from  the  line  of  its  immediate  object ;  it 
simply  imparts  to  us  views  of  Grod  worthy  of  himself 


XX11  INTRODUCTION. 

as  the  Creator,  and  views  of  man  in  his  relations  to 
(rod,  of  the  last  importance  to  him  in  furthering  the 
great  end  of  his  being ;  and  thus  preserving  brevity 
with  simplicity,  and  consistency  with  strength,  while 
uniting  the  grandest  conceptions  with  all  the  sober 
dignity  of  the  weightiest  truths,  it  stands  like  the 
work  which  it  depicts,  a  mighty  and  imperishable 
monument  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Creator,  to  be 
seen  and  read  by  all  his  rational  and  intelligent 
creatures. 

As  it  must  definitively  settle  the  point  that  the 
world  was  created,  so  does  it  furnish  us  with  the  only 
infallible  guide  in  our  endeavors  to  ascertain  the 
manner  in  which  the  work  of  creation  advanced. 

We  may  reason  from  effects  to  causes,  and  from 
present  to  former  changes  on  the  earth's  surface  ; 
but  the  laws  of  nature,  (if  we  leave  out  of  view  their 
suspension  or  counteraction  during  the  time  of  the 
"Noachic  deluge,)  can  guide  us  no  farther  back 
than  to  the  period  when  God  completed  his  work  of 
creation  ;  because,  up  to  that  period,  be  it  when  it 
might,  the  work  was  conformable  to  no  analogy,  but 
carried  on  in  a  manner  wholly  miraculous.  What  a 
work  ! — to  create  such  a  world  as  this  ;  to  fit  it  up 
with  such  magnificent  furniture  and  varied  conve- 
niences ;  to  decorate  it  with  such  ever- varied  scenes  of 
beauty  and  grandeur;  to  stock  it  with  plants,  and 
animals,  and  birds,  and  creeping  things  ;  to  place  at 
its  head  a  being  full  formed  after  the  image  of  his 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

Maker— all  alike,  and  in  their  order,  prepared  for  their 
appropriate  offices,  through  successive  seasons,  from 
age  to  age.  "What  a  Mind  !  containing  in  itself  the 
archetypes  of  all  the  forms,  both  of  animate  and  inani- 
mate things,  which  it  called  into  existence  by  the  Word 
of  his  power,  without  either  confusion  or  mistake — com- 
prehending all  the  parts  of  his  creation,  whether  great 
or  small — discerning  all  the  qualities  and  uses  of  each 
and  every  object,  whether  separate  or  in  combination 
— determining  on  the  nature,  proportions,  and  action 
of  the  elements,  and  on  the  operations  and  movements 
of  all  created  existences,  without  deviation  or  hin- 
drance, so  long  as  the  earth  revolved  on  its  axis,  or  the 
sun  gladdened  it  with  his  genial  rays  !  And  what  a 
day  that,  on  which  God,  the  Almighty  Maker  of. 
heaven  and  earth,  rested  from  his  six  days'  work  of 
creation  !  He  who  had  performed  such  a  work,  has 
rights  which  may  not  be  impugned,  and  purposes 
which  cannot  be  frustrated — is  infinitely  worthy  to  be 
exalted  to  the  throne  of  the  Universe  and  to  be  held 
in  everlasting  remembrance  by  all  his  creatures ;  and 
to  answer  these  great  ends,  the  Sabbath  was  infixed 
in  the  order  of  Creation,  and  the  reason  for  its  insti- 
tution reiterated  in  the  hearing  of  successive  genera- 
tions, as  often  as  God's  commandments  to  mankind 
were  repeated  :  "  For  in  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
rested  the  seventh  day — wherefore  the  Lord  blessed 
the    Sabbath-day  and  hallowed   it."     Yes  ;  God  had 


XXIV  INTKODUCTION. 

higher  ends  in  his  work  of  creation  than  to  furnish 
materials  to  men  in  after  ages  to  theorize  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  work  advanced,  or  the  time  in 
which  it  was  completed.  This  act  asserts  and  attests 
at  once  his  existence  and  his  rights  as  the  sovereign 
Ruler  and  Judge  of  all  the  earth  ;  it  proclaims  him 
to  be,  as  He  is,  the  providential  and  moral  governor 
of  the  world,  and  bespeaks  for  him  the  homage  and 
obedience  of  all  his  rational  creatures:  it  was  the 
manifestation  of  his  eternal  power  and  Grodhead  for 
purposes  which  the  finite  mind  cannot  fully  com- 
prehend— the  initial  step  in  the  boundless  range 
of  his  operations  for  the  glory  of  his  own  incommuni- 
cable Name,  and  the  ultimate  and  perfect  good  of  all 
the  virtuous  intelligences  of  his  vast  empire  ! 

It  follows  then,  (and  we  write  it  with  all  due 
solemnity,)  that  whatever  militates  against  the  inspir- 
ed record  of  the  work  of  creation,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  harmless  theory.  It  is  treason  in  (xod's  world 
against  (rod's  moral  government ;  leading  to  a  denial 
of  his  rights  and  to  the  rejection  of  his  Word.  We 
cannot  maintain  our  high  allegiance,  and  embrace 
any  theory  which  would  rob  him  of  the  glory  due  to 
his  name  ;  nor  can  any  theory  be  true  in  explanation 
of  his  works,  which  is  opposed  by  the  teachings,  and 
at  variance  with  the  authority  of  his  Word. 

Such  being  our  views,  we  have  consented,  at  the 
request  of  our  respected  author,  to  express  them  in 
the  form  of  this  introduction   to  his  work.     His  pages 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

may  have  few  attractions  for  those  who  have  been 
fascinated  by  the  romances  of  geology  ;  and  his  argu- 
ments may  fail  to  convince  the  advocates  of  modern 
theories — especially  the  few  who  have  so  laboriously 
aimed  to  enlighten  the  Christian  public,  and 
impose  a  new  version  of  the  Mosaic  account.  "  I 
have  written  a  book,"  said  a  famous  theorist,  "  and 
therefore  I  cannot  change  ;"  and  something  of  the  kind 
may  prejudice  the  judgment  of  many  a  geologist  in 
relation  to  our  author's  work  :  nor  may  it  repress  that 
spirit  of  theorizing  which  knows  no  restraint  from 
deference  to  revealed  religion ;  but  its  perusal,  we 
trust,  will  serve  to  relieve  the  minds  of  such  as  have 
become  embarrassed  by  the  astounding  assumptions 
of  some  geological  writers,  and  to  disarm  the  force  of 
gratuitous  theories  over  those  who  have  had  but 
little  acquaintance  with  the  subject  in  its  true  aspects 
and  relations. 

Our  author  has  brought  to  his  task  a  mind  well- 
stored  by  reading,  and  highly  disciplined  by  habits  of 
patient  and  independent  thought.  In  some  respects, 
therefore,  the  arguments  which  he  employs  are 
new,  and  presented  in  a  very  forcible  manner ; 
while  the  difficulties  to  which  the  more  recent  geolo- 
gical theories  are  liable  in  his  view,  at  last  become  so 
obvious  to  the  reflecting  reader  as  to  prepare  him  to 
follow  the  author,  and  with  him  to  account,  on  Scrip- 
tural principles,  for  those  phenomena  which  have  mis- 
led certain  scientific  men  ;  and  to  regard  the  Scriptu- 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

ral  explanation  of  geological  facts  as  liable  to  fewer 
objections  than  the  most  plausible  theory  which  has 
yet  been  broached  in  the  cabinet  of  the  geologist,  or 
the  laboratory  of  the  chemist.  Even  should  the  au- 
thor's reasoning,  in  some  of  its  points,  not  satisfy  every 
reader,  nor  afford  him  all  the  light  he  may  desire  ;  still, 
he  will  at  least  pause,  before  he  succumbs  to  the 
dogmatism  of  a  Smith,  or  yields  his  judgment  to  the 
poetic  imaginings  of  a  Miller. 

That  an  adherence  to  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  crea- 
tion, however,  will  not  obviate  every  difficulty  which 
may  be  proposed,  is  quite  certain  ;  that  we  may  be 
unable  to  explain  some  of  the  phenomena  to  which 
geology  points,  is  not  improbable ;  but  such  considera- 
tions afford  no  more  valid  grounds  for  departing  from 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible  in  relation  to  the  work  of 
creation,  than  for  rejecting  any  one  of  the  great  doc- 
trines which  it  has  revealed  to  our  faith. 

Things  hard  to  be  understood  by  the  finite  mind 
will  be  found  in  the  works  as  well  as  in  the  Word  of 
an  infinitely  wise  and  all  powerful  Being ;  and  with  as 
much  propriety  might  we  reject  his  revelation  because 
of  physical  evils  which  we  cannot  reconcile  with  our 
abstract  notions  of  the  Divine  holiness  and  goodness,  as 
because  its  account  of  creation  does  not  accord  with 
the  conclusions  which  some  geologists  have  "  felt 
constrained"  to  adopt. 

In  view,  then,  of  the  sceptical  tendency  of  certain 
works  on  the  subject  of  geology,  and  more  particularly 


INTRODUCTION.  XX  V  i  i 

the  fact,  that  some  of  the  professed  friends  of  the 
Bible,  taking  for  granted  the  assumptions  of  geologists, 
have  made  admissions  fatal  to  the  obvious  drift  and 
integrity  of  the  Mosaic  record,  we  deem  it  a  privi- 
lege to  be  able  to  announce  to  the  Christian  public 
"  A  Treatise  on  the  Epoch  of  Creation,"  which,  while 
disclosing  no  ordinary  acquaintance  with  scientific 
inquiries,  is  true  to  the  "Word  of  God.  What  do  the 
Scriptures  teach  respecting  the  work  of  creation  ?  is 
the  one  great  question  considered  in  this  trea- 
tise. It  brings  to  the  support  of  the  Mosaic 
record,  arguments  drawn  from  the  laws  of  Biblical 
interpretation  in  relation  to  the  use  of  the  term,  begin- 
ning ;  from  the  positive  statement  of  the  sacred  his- 
torian, that  in  the  space  of  six  days  the  generations 
of  the  heaven  and  earth  were  completed  ;  from  the 
fact  that  throughout  the  Scriptures,  the  formation  of 
man  is  referred  to  the  same  period,  or  included  in  the 
six  days'  work  of  creation  ;  from  the  reason  assigned 
for  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  and  for  the  stress 
afterwards  laid  on  this  fact,  growing  out  of  the  an- 
tagonism of  all  idolatrous  systems  of  religion  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  God's  rights  as  the  Creator ; 
from  the  fact  that  the  delegated  work  of  Christ  is 
referred  to  the  same  period  with  the  creation,  and 
from  the  glory  and  honor  due  and  ascribed  to  Him, 
"  without  whom  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made." 

Such  are  the  author's  main  positions  ;  and  if  they 


XXV111  INTRODUCTION. 

are  untenable,  then  the  Sabbath  can  no  longer  be  re. 
garded  as  the  divine  memorial  of  God's  six  days'  work 
of  creation  :  we  must  be  governed  in  all  our  inquiries 
on  the  subject  of  creation  by  our  knowledge  of  physical 
laws,  not  by  God's  written  Word  ;  and,  surrendering 
our  minds  to  the  "  principles  of  geology,"  we  are 
left,  not  only  to  doubt  the  truthfulness  of  the  Mosaic 
record  of  the  creation,  but  to  incline  to  the  opinion 
that  matter  itself  is  eternal ! 

R.  W.  D. 
New  York,  July  7,  1851. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Observations  relating  to  the  Subject  of  Inquiry  — The  Main  Ques- 
tion not  Involved  in  the  Facts  or  Inductions  of  Geological 
Science — Relation  of  it  to  the  Scriptures  -  -  -     33 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Epoch  of  Creation  according  to  the  Scriptures — Import  of  the 
phrase  "  In  the  beginning" — Usage  of  that  and  analogous  phrases 
— The  Sabbath  appointed  to  be  observed  as  a  public  Acknowledg- 
ment and  Attestation,  that  Jehovah  created  all  things  in  the 
space  of  Six  Days — The  Significance  and  Importance  of  that 
Fact  in  relation  to  the  Rival  System  of  Idolatry  -  -     48 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  references  to  the  Work  of  the  Creation  in  the  New,  in  Har- 
mony with  those  of  the  Old  Testament — Coincidence  of  the 
first  verses  of  the  Gospel  of  John  with  the  first  of  Genesis — Inci- 
dental allusions  to  the  Epoch  of  Creation — That  Man  and  the 
Material  Worlds  were  created  at  the  same  Epoch,  implied  in  all 
that  relates  to  the  Work  of  Redemption,  and  in  all  the  Ascrip- 
tions of  Praise  to  the  Creator  for  the  Perfection  of  his  Works     -     77 


XXX  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PAGE 

Notice  of  some  of  the  Physical  Difficulties  of  theGeologic  Theory — 
The  probable  quantity  of  matter  in  the  Sedimentary  Formations 
computed  in  cubic  miles  ;  compared  with  the  quantity  of  unstra- 
tified  rock  existing  above  the  sea  level ;  and  with  the  area  of  the 
existing  oceans — The  production  of  both  Marine  and  Terrestrial 
Plants  and  Animals,  and  the  Diffusion  and  Fossilization  of  them 
in  the  Sedimentary  Strata,  according  to  the  Geologic  Theory, 
incredible  and  impossible  -  -  -  -  -     94 


CHAPTER  V. 

Notices  of  some  portions  of  the  chapter  "  On  the  bearing  of  Final 
Causes  in  Geologic  History,  in  the  "  Footprints  of  the  Creator," 
by  Hugh  Miller — His  inference  of  successive  creations  from 
the  relative  proportion  of  Brain  to  the  Spinal  Cord  in  different 
races  of  Animals — His  Version  of  the  Fourth  Commandment     -  115 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Notice  of  Dr.  Hitchcock— Religion  of  Geology        -  143 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  aversion  of  Geologists  to  the  supposition  of  Miracles  in  the 
production  of  Geological  changes — The  necessity  on  their  hypo- 
thesis of  numerous  and  stupendous  miracles — Reference  to  the 
theory  of  Doctor  John  Pye  Smith,  of  a  limited  extent  of  the 
Deluge — Inexplicable  facts  of  Geology — Pebbles — Coal — "  Course 
of  Creation" — Extinction  of  Races — Preposterous  assumptions 
and  inferences  of  Geologists — Their  omission  of  reference  to  the 
moral  government  and  purposes  of  the  Creator     -  168 


CONTI    ,  I  XXXI 

CHAPTER  VII L 

PAGE 

The  Theory  of  the  Creation,  at  first,  of  only  the  Primordial  Ele- 
ments of  things  considered  .....  212 

CHAPTER  IX. 
No  theory  of  the  mode  of  Causation  necessary  to  the  credit  of 
Revelation,  or  to  our  faith  in  it — The  possibility  of  the  former 
Continents  with  their  Animal  and  Vegetable  Races,  having  been 
merged  and  suspended  in  the  waters  of  the  Deluge,  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  bed  of  the  former  seas,  and  there  deposited  in  the 
existing  strata  considered.  .....  223 

CHAPTER  X. 
Reference    to    the    Supreme    authority   and    importance    of  the 
Scripures  .......  253 

Appendix    --.-----  257 


THE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION, 


CHAPTER    I. 

Observations  relating  to  the  Subject  of  Inquiry— The  Main  Question 
not  Involved  in  the  Facts  or  Inductions  of  Geological  Science — Rela- 
tion of  it  to  the  Scriptures. 

The  geological  theory  assigns  to  the  physical  world 
a  far  higher  antiquity  than  it  allows  to  the  human 
race.  Many  who  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  adopt  this  theory,  to  avoid  the  difficulties 
which  geological  science  is  supposed  to  present  to  the 
doctrine  which  ascribes  the  creation  of  man  and  that 
of  the  earth  to  one  and  the  same  epoch  ;  and  they 
endeavor  so  to  construe  the  language  of  Scripture  as 
to  make  it  harmonize  with  what  they  suppose  to  be 
the  unavoidable  conclusions  of  science.  If  they 
regard  the  Scriptures  with  the  reverence  due  to  them, 
they  must  yield  to  the  required  interpretations,  under 
the  impression  that  the  credit  of  revelation  itself 
demands  them,  that  they  affect  no  essential  doctrine, 
that  the  alleged    conclusions   of  science   can    in    no 

other  way  be  met,  and  that  this  course  may  conciliate 
2* 


34  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

and  win  the  confidence  and  faith  of  scientific  men, 
who  otherwise  would  be  in  danger  of  rejecting  the 
Bible  altogether. 

In  pursuing  this  course,  however,  in  relation  to  the 
epoch  of  creation,  they  make  concessions  in  construing 
the  language  of  Scripture,  which,  if  made  in  construing 
that  language  on  other  scriptural  subjects,  may  lead 
to  the  subversion  of  every  statement  and  doctrine  by 
which  the  Bible  is  distinguished  as  a  revelation  from 
God.  They  seem,  on  the  one  hand,  to  forget  that  the 
laws  of  language  are  as  fixed  and  as  intelligible  as  those 
of  any  scienoe ;  and  on  the  other,  that  the  geologist, 
in  his  inquiries,  is  restricted  to  physical  phenomena  as 
seen  under  the  operation  of  physical  causes,  or  natural 
laws,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  thing  supernatural. 
The  phenomena  of  his  science  are  therefore  studied 
with  sole  reference  to  those  natural  causes  which  are 
operating  to  produce  the  observed  or  analogous  results. 
To  admit  the  present  or  past  operation  of  a  super- 
natural cause,  would  be  to  surpass  the  bounds  of  phy- 
sical enquiry.  Thus  in  studying  the  sedimentary  for- 
mations which  constitute  perhaps  three  quarters  of  the 
solid  surface  of  the  globe,  the  geologist  discovers  that 
there  are  in  operation  natural  causes  which  are  gra- 
dually producing  somewhat  similar  deposits.  Those 
causes  only  fall  within  his  observation.  They  are  the 
appropriate   natural   causes   of    such   effects  ;    and   if 


MIRACLES   NOT   KNOWN   TO   SCIENCE.  35 

allowed  to  have  been  in  operation  long  enough,  are 
supposed  adequate  to  have  produced  the  results  in 
question.  If,  as  a  scientific  geologist,  he  ascribes  the 
facts  which  he  discovers  to  a  supernatural  cause — a 
cause  not  within  his  observation — he  passes  out  of  his 
own  field  of  inquiry  into  that  of  revelation  ;  out  of  the 
province  of  science  into  that  of  theology.  His  busi- 
ness is  with  physical  phenomena,  which  come  directly 
within  his  own  observation  ;  with  facts,  and  their  rela- 
tions and  connections.  It  does  not  invade,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  with,  other  departments  of  knowledge. 
If  any  supernatural  cause  has  been  at  any  period,  or 
for  any  reason,  interposed,  to  produce  the  facts  which 
he  observes;  if  any  miracle  has  been  wrought,  the 
consideration  of  it  is  not  within  his  province.  It  belongs 
to  a  different  department.  He  waives  the  subject  as 
inappropriate  to  him,  and  out  of  his  sphere.  Whether 
miracles  are  possible,  whether  there  has  ever  been  a 
necessity  or  sufficient  reason  for  them,  or  whether  they 
have  ever  actually  been  interposed,  it  is  not  his  object 
to  enquire.  It  is  the  business  of  the  physical  science 
which  he  pursues,  to  account  for  all  the  facts  observed 
on  natural  principles,  and  by  means  of  ordinary  phy- 
sical laws.  If  they  can  be  so  accounted  for,  the  occur- 
rence of  miracles  in  their  production  ought  not  to  be 
supposed.  To  suppose  them  would  be  unscientific  and 
unnecessary.     Great  progress,  it  is  argued,  has  already 


36  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

been  made  in  accounting  for  the  facts  of  geology  in 
this  manner ;  and  if  in  some  cases  a  satisfactory 
explanation  has  not  been  rendered,  the  defect  may  be 
reasonably  ascribed  to  our  remaining  ignorance  of  phy- 
sical causes  and  their  operations.  In  view  of  what  has 
been  done,  it  may  be  hoped  that  further  researches 
will  clear  up  what  now  remains  obscure.  "When  that 
is  accomplished,  the  exact  truth  will  be  scientifically 
established,  and  that  of  course  will  not  conflict  with 
the  real  meaning  of  any  Divinely  inspired  statement. 
In  taking  this  view  of  the  matter,  the  geologist  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  assumption,  or  conviction,  that  the 
conclusions  which  he  has  arrived-  at  in  regard,  for  ex- 
ample, to  the  mode  in  which  the  sedimentary  forma- 
tions, with  their  imbedded  fossils,  were  formed,  and 
consequently,  in  regard  to  the  extreme  remoteness  of 
the  era  of  creation,  are  true,  and  entitled  to  much  tho 
same  confidence  as  mathematical  demonstrations.  And 
under  such  impression,  he  has  no  difficulty  in  conclud- 
ing that  the  earth,  in  order  to  a  sufficient  lapse  of 
time  to  admit  of  the  gradual  formation  of  the  sedimen- 
tary deposits,  must  have  been  created  long  before  the 
creation  of  man  ;  and  if  it  is  the  apparent  import  of 
the  Mosaic  narrative,  that  they  were  created  simul- 
taneously in  the  "  six  days  ;"  such,  if  that  narrative  is 
inspired,  cannot  be  its  real  import.  It  must  be  so 
construed  as  to  harmonize  with  the  conclusions  which 


SUPPOSITIONS   OF   GEOLOGISTS.  37 

the  geologist  has  adopted.  He  thinks  those  conclu- 
sions so  far  settled,  and  entitled  to  such  confidence,  as 
to  make  it  necessary  to  the  believer  in  revelation  to 
construe  the  Mosaic  record  in  accordance  with  them. 
In  other  words,  he  deems  it  more  likely  that  the  appa- 
rent is  not  the  true  meaning  of  that  record,  than  that 
any  other  besides  natural,  ordinary,  physical  causes 
have  been  employed  to  produce  the  sedimentary  for- 
mations, or  other  phenomena  with  which  his  inquiries 
are  concerned.  If  there  is  a  defect  anywhere,  he 
supposes  it  must  be  in  the  written  account  of  the 
creation,  and  not  in  his  ascription  of  changes  to  the 
slow  operation  of  natural  causes.  He  supposes  it  to 
be  more  likely  that  a  written  account,  in  a  dead  and 
very  ancient  language,  should  appear  to  mean  what  it 
does  not  mean,  that  it  should  be  figurative  or  mystical, 
that  it  should  be  misconstrued  through  ignorance,  or 
by  reason  of  its  brevity  or  other  peculiarities,  than 
that  he  should  be  mistaken  in  his  inferences  from  the 
geological  phenomena  of  the  earth.  The  allowance 
out  of  a  past  eternity,  of  periods  of  time  sufficient  to 
admit  of  all  the  observed  phenomena  being  produced 
by  the  gradual  operations  of  these  natural  causes, 
appears  to  him  to  be  less  objectionable,  more  scientific, 
and  more  satisfactory  every  way,  than  to  suppose 
that  supernatural  causes  have  been  interposed. 

Resting  in  this  view,  he  does  not  feel  himself  called 


38  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

on  to  enquire  whether  the  inspired  record,  construed 
by  the  invariable  laws  of  language,  has  not  higher 
claims,  and  is  not  of  more  certain  import,  than  his 
inference  from  the  facts  of  physical  science  considered 
as  the  result  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature  ;  whether 
that  record  does  not  inform  us  of  moral  reasons  for  the 
creation  of  the  earth  and  for  great  changes  in  its  con- 
dition, and  allege  the  occurrence,  for  moral  reasons, 
of  supernatural  interpositions,  on  various  occasions  ; 
whether  the  admission  of  moral,  in  connection  with 
physical,  reasons  and  causes,  in  all  the  works  of  crea- 
tion and  providence,  and  in  the  moral  and  physical 
government  of  the  world,  is  not  absolutely  indispen- 
sable, if  the  Creator  exercises  such  government ;  since 
a  moral  disconnected  from  a  physical  government,  over 
creatures  having  physical  natures  and  in  close  alliance 
with  physical  things,  is  undoubtedly  impossible — 
whether,  in  the  administration  of  such  a  government, 
operations  which  we  call  supernatural  are  any  less 
natural  to  the  Creator,  or  any  less  likely  to  be  inter- 
posed when  there  is  a  moral  reason,  or  any  sufficient 
exigency  or  occasion  for  them,  than  operations  which 
occur  in  conformity  to  what  we  call  the  laws  of  nature  ; 
since,  in  the  administration  of  his  government,  the 
latter,  as  truly  as  the  former,  are  employed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Creator.  Whether  in  the  case  of  the 
changes   which  are   disclosed  by  geological  research, 


MORAL  REASONS   OVERLOOKED.  39 

the  lapse  of  such  rounds  of  duration,  as  are  supposed 
to  have  been  necessary  for  their  production,  is  not 
more  improbable  and  incredible  than  that  they  should 
have  been  hastened  by  supernatural  interference, 
especially  if  they  are  considered  as  having  taken  place 
under  the  administration  and  control  of  a  Being 
of  infinite  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness ;  and  if,  sup- 
posing such  prolonged  periods  to  have  elapsed,  and  to 
have  been  succeeded  by  a  new  creation,  including  man, 
the  comparative  uselessness  and  nullity  of  the  earlier 
changes  are  taken  into  view.  Whether  in  accounting 
for  the  supposed  gradual  formation  of  the  sedimentary 
rocks,  the  distribution  in  them  of  marine  and  terres- 
trial plants  and  animals,  and  the  preservation  of  their 
most  delicate  forms,  there  may  not  be  difficulties 
which  no  operation  of  the  laws  of  nature  could  possi- 
bly overcome — difficulties  in  respect  to  the  supply  of 
the  peculiar  materials  of  the  respective  strata,  the 
supply  of  relics  from  the  land  and  sea  together  in  the 
same  rocks,  and  the  conservation  of  them  during  the 
long  periods  required  for  the  inhumation  of  each  and 
every  one  of  them,  by  the  slow  operation  of  natural 
causes,  to  overcome  which  would  require  a  stupendous, 
universal,  and  constant  supernatural  interposition. 


The  argument,   or  inference,   of   the   geologist   in 
support  of  the  high  antiquity  of  the  earth,  is  not  in 


40         '  THE   EPOCH   OF    CREATION. 

itself  by  any  means  conclusive  ;  and  the  theory  which 
it  involves  is  obnoxious  to  very  grave  objections  besides 
those  derived  from  the  Scripture  record,  and  to  still 
more  formidable  objections  from  the  teachings  of  the 
sacred  oracles. 

The  question  at  issue  is,  whether  the  Mosaic  account 
of  the  creation  is  an  account  of  the  original  creation 
out  of  nothing  of  the  material  worlds  and  all  that  in 
them  is  ;  or  whether  the  narrative  of  the  "  six  days" 
is  an  account  only  of  the  remodelling  of  the  earth — 
one  of  those  worlds — out  of  the  materials  of  the  same 
earth  created  at  an  earlier  period,  supposed  to  be  indi- 
cated by  the  phrase  "  in  the  beginning." 

This  question  is  not  of  a  nature  to  be  determined  by 
scientific  discoveries  or  deductions.  It  involves  con- 
siderations of  which  physical  science  is  not  cognizant, 
and  does  not  in  any  way  include.  It  involves  the  fact 
itself  of  a  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
The  only  probable  reason  which  geology  furnishes  in 
favor  of  the  supposition  that  the  earth  was  created,  or 
had  a  beginning  at  any  period,  however  remote,  is,  as 
represented  by  Dr.  Buckland,  that  beneath  the  lowest 
stratum  of  sedimentary  rocks  no  fossil  remains  of 
plants  or  animals  have  been  discovered,  and  therefore 
it  is  inferred  that  the  deposition  of  such  fossils  must 
have  had  a  beginning,  and  thence  that  plants  and 
animals  themselves  had  a  besrinninsr.     From  this  rea- 


CREATION   NOT   A   QUESTION   OF   SCIENCE.  41 

soning,  though  he  does  not  formally  state  the  inference, 
we  seem  to  be  expected  to  infer  that  the  earth  itself, 
as  well  as  its  plants  and  animals,  had  a  beginning. 
"  "We  argue  thus,"  he  says  :  "  It  is  demonstrated  from 
geology  that  there  was  a  period  when  no  organic  beings 
had  existence ;  these  organic  beings  must  therefore 
have  had  a  beginning  subsequently  to  that  period  ;  and 
where  is  that  beginning  to  be  found  but  in  the  will 
and  fiat  of  an  intelligent  and  all-wise  Creator."* 
The  demonstration,  however,  as  he  afterwards  admits, 
relates  only  to  those  organized  beings  whose  fossil 
remains  are  discovered.  Geology  neither  does  nor  can 
demonstrate  that  there  were  not  earlier  races  of  organ- 
ized beings  than  those  whose  fossil  remains  are  now 
discovered ;  races  indefinitely  numerous,  diversified,  and 
chronologically  separated,  whose  remains  are  beneath 
the  rocks  which  contain  the  fossils  of  modern  geology, 
and  therefore  have  not  been  discovered ;  or  have  been 
destroyed  by  the  melting  up  of  those  lower  rocks,  or  have 
otherwise  been  obliterated  by  the  progress  of  change, 
or  have  ceased  to  exist,  under  circumstances  and  in  a 
condition  of  the  earth  which  precluded  their  being  fossil- 
ized. Geology,  therefore,  furnishes  no  conclusive  evi- 
dence, nor,  at  best,  anything  more  than  a  faint  and  doubt- 
ful probability  that  the  earth  has  not  existed  and  been 
occupied  with  plants  and  animals  from  eternity.     The 

*  Bridsrewater  Treatise. 


42  THE  EPOCH   OF   CEEATION. 

most  probable  inference  from  it,  on  supposition  that 
immeasurable  rounds  of  duration  were  required  for  the 
formation  of  the  strata  in  which  fossils  are  now  dis- 
covered, would  be  that  the  earth  had  existed  for  ever. 
On  this  head  nothing  can  resolve  or  satisfy  us  but  a 
revelation  from  Him  who  created  the  world  ;  and  who, 
according  to  the  revelation  which  he  has  made,  created 
it  as  part  and  parcel  of  a  system  of  things  which 
included  moral  as  well  as  physical  agencies  and  ends, 
and  which,  alike  under  his  moral  and  physical  gov- 
ernment, he  has  ever  been  carrying  into  effect.  The 
question,  like  that  concerning  the  unity  of  the  human 
race,  can  be  determined  only  by  revelation.  The  two 
subjects  belong  to  one  and  the  same  system  of  things, 
and  are  associated  in  the  same  moral  purposes  and 
government,  in  the  progress  of  which  the  dead  are  to 
be  raised,  and  the  earth  is  to  be  renovated,  not  by  a 
natural  or  gradual  process,  but  by  supernatural  inter- 
position. 


When  we  learn  from  a  venerable  professor  of  one 
of  our  oldest  Literary  Institutions,  that  "  he  cares 
not  whether  the  earth  was  created  perfect,  or  was 
formed  out  of  nebular  matter,  or  elaborated  out  of 
primordial  elements  ;  the  manner  and  epoch  of  its 
origin  having  nothing  to  do  with  his  faith  in  the 
Scriptures ;"  and  when  we  have  it  under  the  sanction 


REASONS   FOE   THIS   INQUIRY.  43 

of  one  of  the  most  respected  professors  in  one  of  the 
oldest  and  soundest  of  our  theological  seminaries,  that 
' '  There  is  no  need  to  be  much  concerned  about  the  age 
of  the  globe  on  which  our  race  resides.  The  chro- 
nology of  Moses  is  that  of  the  human  race,  and  not 
that  of  the  material  part  of  the  earth.  All  that  is 
necessary  to  relieve  the  sacred  history  from  every 
objection  on  this  ground  is  to  interpret  the  first  sen- 
tence in  the  Bible  as  stating  the  fact,  that  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  were  created  by  God,  without  stating  at 
what  time,  and  considering  the  six  days'  creation  to 
relate  to  the  preparation,  and  organization  of  the 
Chaotic  Materialism  into  a  form  and  condition  to  suit 
its  new  inhabitants  :"  we  may  reasonably  expect  it  to 
be  asked,  Why  should  we  concern  ourselves  about 
these  questions?  Of  what  consequence  can  it  be  to 
us,  whether  the  earth  was  created  infinite  ages,  or 
only  6000  years  ago  ?  The  answer  is,  that  the 
question  very  nearly  concerns  the  supremacy  and 
glory  of  the  Creator,  and  the  faith,  reverence,  and 
homage  of  men.  He  has  made  known  the  facts  in  a 
revelation  in  which  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and 
earth  holds  the  first  and  prominent  place  ;  as  being 
the  basis  of  his  rights  and  prerogatives  over  his  crea- 
tures as  their  providential  and  moral  governor  ;  and 
as  the  initiatory  step  in  the  wide  and  endless  range  of 
his  plan  of  operations  and  manifestations  to  the  whole 


44  THE  EPOCH   OF  CREATION. 

universe  of  intelligent  agents.  In  this  world  to  which 
that  revelation  was  made,  the  question  has,  from  the 
era  of  the  apostasy,  been  under  debate,  whether  the 
self-existent,  the  Jehovah  of  the  Bible,  was,  indeed, 
the  Creator  of  the  material  worlds,  and  all  creatures  ; 
or,  whether  they  were  created  by  a  good  or  an  evil 
angel,  or  other  creature  ;  or  whether  they  were  eter- 
nal, and  owed  their  successive  races  of  organized 
beings,  and  their  changes  of  condition,  to  a  coeval  and 
inherent  law  of  development.  If  the  worlds  were 
created,  if  their  existence  was  originated,  if  they  were 
brought  into  being  by  the  will  of  an  intelligent  Being, 
then  he,  as  their  Creator,  necessarily  and  of  right  is 
their  proprietor,  lawgiver,  and  ruler,  and  unqualified 
homage,  obedience,  and  praise  are  due  to  him  on  that 
account.  But  it  is  of  the  essence  of  apostasy  and 
rebellion,  to  deny  those  prerogatives  and  rights,  and 
to  refuse  to  yield  such  homage  and  obedience  ;  and  of 
such  denial  and  refusal  the  history  of  the  world  almost 
wholly  consists.  And  if  out  of  deference  to  a  physical 
theory  which,  to  say  the  least,  leaves  the  fact  of  any 
beginning  or  creation  of  the  world  in  extreme  doubt 
and  uncertainty,  we  consent  so  to  modify  the  revela- 
tion which  the  Creator  himself  has  made,  as  to  sever, 
by  incalculable  periods,  the  creation  itself  from  the 
exercise  and  assertion  of  the  rights,  prerogatives,  and 
moral  purposes  of  the  Creator,  as  Lawgiver  and  Moral 


CREATION AND   MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  45 

governor,  we  so  far  really  or  virtually  deny  those 
prerogatives,  rights,  and  purposes.  For  we  thereby 
invade  or  annul  the  revealed  plan,  which  most  empha- 
tically and  comprehensively  includes  and  connects  the 
creation  of  all  things  with  that  of  man,  and  on  that 
ground  asserts  the  prerogatives  and  rights  of  moral 
government,  and  claims  unqualified  homage  and 
obedience. 

Now,  since  geology,  while  it  acquaints  us  with 
innumerable  facts  concerning  the  physical  condition 
of  the  earth,  is  wholly  incompetent  to  explain  the 
conditions  or  circumstances  in  which,  the  reasons  for 
which,  or  the  mode  of  operation  by  which,  those  facts 
were  produced  ;  it  is  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the 
inspired  oracles  as  the  only  means  of  attaining  any 
satisfaction. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  furnish  us  with  a  detailed 
account  of  the  work  of  creation,  as  well  as  of  the 
wondrous  works  of  Providence  and  Grace.  The  crea- 
tion of  the  heavens  and  earth,  and  all  that  in  them  is, 
being  necessarily  in  the  order  of  Divine  manifestations 
and  purposes,  before  and  preliminary  to  the  works  of 
providence  and  redemption,  is  first  narrated  in  the 
sacred  oracles.  The  Creator  himself  being  also  the 
Lawgiver,  Ruler,  and  Revealer,  and  the  creation  being 
the  ground  of  his  prerogatives  and  rights  as  providen- 
tial and  moral  Governor ;  his  revealed  account  of  the 


46  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

work  of  creation  we  should  expect  would  be  not  only 
in  harmony  with  his  other  works,  and  with  his  entire 
scheme  of  operations,  but  in  itself  as  intelligible  as 
any  other  portion  of  the  history  of  his  acts.  And  so 
undoubtedly  it  is.  It  ascertains  to  us  the  fact  of  the 
creation  of  all  things  out  of  nothing,  the  order  in 
which  they  were  produced,  and  their  relations  and 
connections  with  his  moral  purposes  and  administra- 
tions. 

This  narrative  apparently  teaches  us  that  the 
heavens  and  earth,  and  all  their  hosts,  including  man, 
were  created  at  one  and  the  same  epoch — in  the  space 
of  six  days.  The  geologists  infer  from  the  facts  dis- 
closed by  their  researches,  that  the  material  world 
must  have  existed  many  myriads  of  ages  prior  to  the 
creation  of  man.  To  reconcile  the  Mosaic  narrative 
with  the  supposition  of  such  earlier  date,  they  conclude 
that  the  first  verse  of  Grenesis  constitutes,  unconnected 
with  the  narrative  of  the  six  days,  a  distinct  announce- 
ment that  the  heaven  and  earth  were  created  at  an 
indefinitely  remote  period,  indicated  by  the  word 
"  beginning"  On  this  hypothesis  they  suppose  that 
revelation  and  the  geological  theory  concerning  the 
creation  may  be  consistent  with  each  other.  No  other 
announcements  of  the  sacred  oracles  are  supposed  by 
them  to  be  in  conflict  with  geology.  The  difficulty 
relates  to  the  phrase,  "  in  the  beginning,"  which  they 


SCRIPTURE  NARRATIVE.  47 

suppose  imports  and  refers  to  a  commencement  of 
time  long  anterior  to  the  six  days,  as  if  the  verse  were 
read,  In  the  beginning  of  time  G-od  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth. 

That  they  are  mistaken  in  this  supposition,  an 
examination  of  the  subject  will,  it  is  presumed,  satis- 
factorily show.  And  it  may  appear,  that  believing  all 
Scripture  to  have  been  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  that  his  rights  and  prerogatives  as  moral  Governor 
are  founded  in  the  fact  of  his  being  the  Creator  and 
upholder  of  all  things,  it  as  truly  concerns  us  to  know 
what  relates  to  the  work  of  creation  and  its  epoch,  as 
to  know  what  relates  to  the  allegiance  due  to  him 
from  us,  or  what  relates  to  our  moral  condition,  the 
method  of  recovery,  or  the  destiny  which  awaits  us. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

The  Epoch  of  Creation  according  to  the  Scriptures — Import  of  the 
phrase.,  "  In  the  beginning" — Usage  of  that  and  analogous  phrases — 
The  Sabbath  appointed  to  be  observed  as  a  public  acknowledgment 
and  attestation,  that  Jehovah  created  all  things  in  the  space  of  six 
days — The  significance  and  importance  of  that  fact  in  relation  to  the 
rival  system  of  Idolatry. 

The  Hebrew  word,  Gen.  i.  1,  rendered  in  our  Eng- 
lish version,  "  In  the  beginning,"  occurs  eighteen  times 
in  the  Books  of  Moses,  and  elsewhere  thirty-two  times 
in  fourteen  other  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  But 
it  does  not  in  any  one  of  these  instances  denote  an 
epoch,  or  any  date  or  space  of  time.  It  is  employed 
only  to  denote  the  head  of  a  class,  the  commencement 
of  a  process,  or  the  first  of  a  series  of  things,  persons, 
acts,  or  events.  The  evidence  of  this  fact  will  demon- 
strate that  the  first  verse  of  (xenesis  does  not  refer  to 
a  remote  anterior  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  but  is  as  certainly  as  any  succeeding  verse  of 
the  chapter  a  part  of  the  narrative  of  the  "six  days" 
work  of  creation. 


THE   PHRASE   "  IN   THE   BEGINNING."  49 

In  twenty-one  out  of  the  whole  number  of  instances 
in  which  the  original  word  occurs,  it  is  translated  "  first- 
fruits,"  or  first  of  the  fruits  of  the  land — corn,  wine, 
&c. — in  all  which  it  is  evidently  restricted  to  the  pro- 
ducts or  things  then  existing,  or  the  series  with  which 
they  were  immediately  connected.     Thus  : 

"  The  first  of  the  first-fruits  of  thy  land" — the  be- 
ginning of  thy  land,  the  products  earliest  ripe — 
"  thou  shaft  bring  into  the  house  of  the  Lord  thy 
Ofod." — Exod.  xxiii.  19,  and  xxiv.  26. 

"  When  ye  come  into  the  land  which  I  give  you, 
and  shall  reap  the  harvest  thereof,  then  ye  shall  bring 
a  sheaf  of  the  first-fruits" — the  beginning — "  of  your 
harvest  unto  the  priest." — Levit.  xxiii.  10. 

"All  the  best  of  the  oil,  and  all  the  best  of  the  wine, 
and  of  the  wheat,  the  first-fruits" — the  beginning — 
"of  them,  they  shall  offer  unto  the  Lord." — Numb, 
xviii.  12. 

"  Ye  shall  offer  up  a  cake  of  the  first" — the  begin- 
ning— "  of  your  dough  for  a  heave-offering."  Of  the 
first" — the  beginning — "  of  your  dough  ye  shall  give 
unto  the  Lord  a  heave-offering." — Numb.  xv.  20,  21. 

"  Amalek  was  the  first" — the  beginning — "  of  the 
nations." — Ibid.  xxiv.  20. 

"  The  first" — the  beginning — "of  the  fleece  of  thy 
sheep  shalt  thou  give  him." — Deut.  xviii.  4,  and  again 
xviii.  4. 

3 


50  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

"  Thou  shalt  take  of  the  first" — the  beginning — 
"  of  all  the  fruit  of  the  earth,  which  thou  shalt  bring 
of  thy  land,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." — Deut. 
xx vi.  2. 

"  I  have  brought  the  first-fruits" — the  beginning, 
"  of  the  land."— Deut.  xxvi.  10. 

"  The  children  of  Israel  brought  in  abundance,  the 
first-fruits"  the  beginning,  "  of  corn,  wine,  and  oil, 
and  honey,  and  of  all  the  increase  of  the  field." 
— 2  Chron.  xxxi.  5. 

"  Honor  the  Lord  with  thy  substance,  and  with  the 
first-fruits"  the  beginning,  "  of  all  thine  increase." 
— Prov.  iii.  9. 

"  They  shall  not  sell  of  it,  neither  exchange,  nor 
alienate,  the  first-fruits," — the  beginning — "  of  the 
land." — Ezekiel  xlviii. 

See  also  Levit.  ii.  12  ;  Nehemiah  x.  37,  and  xii. 
44 ;  Jer.  ii.  3  ;  Ezekiel  xx.  40  and  44  ;  xxx.  twice  ; 
Hosea  ix.  10. 

The  offering  of  first-fruits  was  a  duty  to  be  per- 
formed immediately  on  commencing  the  harvest. 
The  first-fruits  were  the  first  sheaves,  the  beginning, 
of  the  harvest.  And  as  the  harvest  was  accom- 
plished by  a  continued  series  of  operations  of  which 
the  jrathering  of  the  first  sheaves  was  the  beginning, 
so  the  work  of  creation  was  accomplished  by  a  series 
of  operations  during  six  days  ;  of  which  operations  the 


"  IN    THE    BEGINNING  " — USAGE.  51 

creation  of  the  celestial  bodies  and  the  earth,  was  the 
first,  the  beginning. 

In  the  Mosaic  narrative,  the  fact  that  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them 
is,  is  the  chief  thing  asserted.  But  he  effected  the 
work  of  creation  by  a  series  of  acts.  The  first-fruits 
of  his  creative  energy,  the  first  act  in  the  series  of  his 
acts  as  Creator,  the  beginning,  was  the  creation  of  the 
earth  and  the  heavenly  bodies  ;  next  light,  and  suc- 
cessively plants  and  trees,  marine  and  aerial  creatures, 
land  animals,  and  man.  Intermediately  the  waters 
were  divided,  the  seas  separated  from  the  dry  land, 
and  the  light  made  to  radiate  from  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars,  to  illumine  the  revolving  earth.  Hence  the 
same  word  which  was  employed  to  denote  the  first  in 
the  series  of  creative  acts,  was  employed  to  denote  the 
first  in  the  series  of  the  reaper's  acts  in  gathering  his 
harvest ;  and  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  would  have 
conveyed  the  same  meaning  as  now,  had  it  read : 
"  God  created  all  things;  the  celestial  orbs  and  tho 
earth  were  the  first  products  of  his  creative  energy  !" 

This  illustration  of  the  usage  and  import  of  the 
word  in  question  is  confirmed  by  its  use  elsewhere.  In 
eighteen  instances  it  is  translated  "  In  the  beginning, 
from  the  beginning,"  &c,  where  its  import  and  refer- 
ence are  manifestly  the  same  as  in  the  passages  above 
cited.     For  example  : 


52  THE   EPOCH   OP   CEEATION. 

"  The  beginning  of  Nimrod's  kingdom  was  Babel." 
— Gen.  x.  10.  The  building  of  Babel  was  the  first  pro- 
ceeding, the  first-fruit,  the  commencement  of  that 
series  of  measures  by  which  Nimrod  founded  and 
erected  a  kingdom. 

"  Reuben,  thou  art  my  first-born,  the  beginning 
of  my  strength." — Gen.  xlix.  3.  Reuben  was  the  first 
of  twelve  sons,  the  first-fruit  of  Jacob's  strength. 

"  From  the  beginning  of  the  year  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  year." — Deut.  xi.  12.  The  beginning  of  a 
year  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  days  which  compose  a 
year,  and  which  immediately  succeed  each  other. 

"  Though  thy  beginning  was  small,  yet  thy  latter 
end  should  greatly  increase."  "  The  Lord  blessed 
the  latter  end  of  Job  more  than  his  beginning.'''' — Job 
viii.  7,  and  xlii.  12.  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom." — Psalm  cxi.  10.  "  The  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge." — Prov. 
i.  7.  "  The  beginning  of  strife  is  as  when  one  let- 
teth  out  water." — Prov.  xvii.  14.  "  The  Lord  pos- 
sessed me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way." — Prov.  viii. 
22.  "  Better  is  the  end  of  a  thing  than  the  beginning 
thereof." — Eccl.  vii.  8.  "  Declaring  the  end  from  the 
beginning^ — Isa.  xlvi.  10.  "  In  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Jehoiakim." — Isa.  xxvi.  1,  and  xxvii.  1.  "  In 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah." — Jer.  xxviii. 
1,  and  xlix.  34.     "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 


THE    "BEGINNING" NOT    AN   EPOOH.  53 

heavens  and  the  earth." — Gen.  i.  1.  Seo  also  Deut 
xxi.  17  ;  Micah  i.  13. 

In  nine  instances  the  same  word  is  translated 
"  chief"  as  chief  of  the  ways  of  G-od ;  chief  of  the 
offerings  ;  chief  of  their  strength  ;  chief  of  the  nations; 
chief  of  the  children  of  Ammon.  And  in  one  of  the 
remaining  cases  of  its  occurrence  it  is  rendered  "  the 
first  part  f  and  in  the  other,  "  the  principal  thing" 

Now  to  suppose  that  the  act  which  was  first  in  that 
series  of  acts  which  brought  into  existence  the  works 
of  creation,  was  separated  from  the  second  act  in  that 
series  by  an  interval  of  countless  myriads  of  ages,  is,  so 
far  as  the  invariable  usage  of  this  word  determines  its 
meaning,  no  less  preposterous  than  to  suppose  that  the 
gathering  of  the  first  sheaves  of  each  annual  harvest 
was  separated  from  the  remainder  of  the  same  harvest 
by  a  similar  lapse  of  ages  ;  that  the  building  of  Babel 
was  separated  by  a  like  interval  from  the  other  pro- 
ceedings of  Nimrod  in  founding  his  kingdom  ;  that 
the  birth  of  Jacob's  first  son  was  in  like  manner  sepa- 
rated from  that  of  the  others  ;  that  the  first  day  of  a 
year  was  separated  from  the  ensuing  days  of  the  same 
year,  and  contemplated  as  immeasurably  earlier  in 
time  ;  or  that  the  beginning  of  a  king's  reign  might 
mean  an  epoch  earlier  by  incalculable  periods  than  the 
day  of  his  birth. 

It  is  thus  conclusively  evident  that  Dr.  Buckland, 


54  THE   EPOCH   OF   CEEATION. 

Dr.  Smith,  and  others,  who  assume  that  the  phrase 
"In  the  beginning"  signifies  a  distant  epoch  or  point 
of  time  indefinitely  earlier  than  the  "  six  days," 
have  totally  mistaken  or  overlooked  the  meaning  and 
object  of  the  original  word ;  it  being  manifest,  from 
the  usage  and  connection  of  it  with  the  context,  in 
every  instance  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  that  its  import  and  object  are  not  in  any 
instance  to  denote,  or  refer  to  any  epoch,  date,  or  rela- 
tion of  time  whatever.  And  if  they  are  thus  mistaken 
in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  that  word,  then  the  first 
verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  equally  with  the 
verses  which  succeed  it,  is  part  of  the  narrative  of  the 
creation  of  all  things  in  the  space  of  six  days ;  and  if 
geology,  as  a  science,  teaches  that  the  earth  was 
created  at  an  earlier  epoch  than  man,  it  can  neither 
derive  any  countenance  from  the  first  verse  of  Grenesis, 
nor  be  reconciled  with  the  narrative  of  the  six  days. 

But  there  are  in  the  Scriptures  many  other  evi- 
dences to  the  same  effect.  The  creation  of  the  world 
and  of  man  is  often  asserted  or  referred  to  in  terms 
and  connections  which  wholly  forbid  any  other  conclu- 
sion. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  words  corresponding 
with  that  which  in  the  first  of  Genesis  is  translated 
"  beginning,"   are  uniformly  employed  in  the  same 


NEW    TESTAMENT   USAGE.  55 

manner,  and  in  like  restricted  connection,  with  the 
things  affirmed  in  the  immediate  context.     Thus : 

"  He  which  made  mankind  in  the  beginning,  made 
them  male  and  female." — Matthew  xix.  4. 

"  From  the  beginning  of  the  creation  Grod  made 
them  male  and  female." — Mark  x.  6. 

"  Moses  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives  ;  but 
from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so." — Matth.  xxiv.  8. 

"  These  are  the  beginning  of  sorrows." — Matth. 
xxiv.  8. 

"  The  beginning  of  the  Gospel." — Mark  i.  1. 

"  In  those  days  shall  be  affliction  such  as  was  not 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation,  which  G-od  created 
unto  this  time." — Mark  xiii.  19. 

"  This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana." — 
John  ii.  11. 

These  passages,  without  citing  others  to  the  same 
effect,  clearly  show  that  the  original  words  are  used 
not  to  denote  an  epoch  or  date  of  time,  but  to  distin- 
guish the  first  of  a  class  or  succession  of  things. 
Mankind  were  created  male  and  female  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  race — the  first  individuals  of  the  race 
were  so  created.  Moses  allowed  a  practice  which  was 
not  allowed  at  the  beginning — the  commencement  of 
social  relations.  The  first  of  a  series  of  afflictions, 
and  the  first  sentence  written  in  the  narrative  of  the 


56  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

Grospel,  respectively  mark  the  commencement  of  a 
class  of  things,  not  a  date  or  epoch  in  time.  Affliction 
to  be  endured  by  a  portion  of  the  human  race,  exceed- 
ing any  since  the  beginning  of  the  creation,  doubtless 
means  that  creation  which  comprised  the  heavens,  the 
earth,  and  the  first  of  such  creatures  as  were  to  endure 
the  affliction  predicted.  For  a  comparison  of  what  they 
were  to  endure  could  not  be  made  with  anything  that 
happened  ages  before  the  first  of  their  race  were 
created.  The  beginning  of  miracles  was  the  first  of  a 
series  of  supernatural  interpositions. 

Thus  we  are  again  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  narrative  of  the  six  days,  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  includes  the  first  verse  of  that  chapter 
equally  with  the  other  verses;  and  that  the  celestial 
orbs  and  the  earth  were  created  at  that,  and  not  at  an 
earlier  epoch. 

Accordingly,  because  G-od  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  in  six  days, 
and  rested  the  seventh  day,  He  blessed  and  hallowed 
that  as  a  day  of  rest  for  man,  and  enjoined  on  him 
the  observance  of  it.  His  moral  government  being 
founded  in  his  prerogatives  and  rights  as  Creator, 
He  alleges  his  creation  of  all  things  in  six  days  as  the 
reason  for  his  hallowing  the  seventh  day,  and  requir- 
ing man  to  remember  and  keep  it. 

The   Moral   Law,  announced  to  the  Israelites  from 


THE   MORAL   LAW   AND   THE    "  SIX   DAYS."  57 

Sinai  in  a  voice  which  shook  the  earth,  and  amid  the 
most  awful  signals  and  attestations  of  the  presence  of 
the  Creator  and  Lawgiver,  is  as  unmistakable  in  its 
meaning,  as  it  is  comprehensive  and  emphatic  in  its 
terms.  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy. 
Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work,  but  the 
seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  [rest]  of  the  Lord  thy 
Grod.  In  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work  ;  thou,  nor 
thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy 
maid-servant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  the  stranger  that  is 
within  thy  gates  :  For,  in  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
rested  the  seventh  day :  Wherefore  the  Lord  blessed 
the  Sabbath  day  and  hallowed  it." — Exod.  xx. 

So,  in  the  rehearsal  of  its  import,  in  connection  with 
their  moral  obligations  and  the  threatened  penalty,  on 
the  delivery  of  the  tables  of  stone,  after  the  ritual  law, 
and  the  directions  concerning  the  tabernacle  and  its 
services  had  been  given :  "  The  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses,  saying,  Speak  thou  also  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  saying,  Verily  my  Sabbaths  ye  shall  keep,  for 
it  is  a  sign  between  me  and  you  throughout  your 
generations,  that  ye  may  know  that  I  am  the  Lord 
that  doth  sanctify  you.  Ye  shall  keep  the  Sabbath 
therefore  :  for  it  is  holy  unto  you.  Every  one  that  de- 
fileth  it,  shall  surely  be  put  to  death  :  for  whosoever 
doeth  any  work  therein,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from 


58  THE   EPOCH   OF    CREATION. 

among  his  people.  Six  days  may  work  be  done,  but 
in  the  seventh,  is  the  Sabbath  of  rest  holy  to  the 
Lord  :  whosoever  doeth  any  work  in  the  Sabbath-day, 
he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death.  Wherefore  the  children 
of  Israel  shall  keep  the  Sabbath  to  observe  the  Sab- 
bath, throughout  their  generations,  for  a  perpetual 
covenant.  It  is  a  sign  between  me  and  the  children 
of  Israel  forever :  For  in  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth,  and  on  the  seventh  day  he  rested." 
— Exod.  xxxi. 

The  seventh  day  was  thus  consecrated  and  set  apart 
as  a  sign,  token,  commemorative  attestation  of  the 
fact  that  in  six  days  the  Lord  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is ;  and  that, 
fact  was  so  essential  to  the  assertion  and  validity  of 
his  claims  as  Lawgiver  and  Ruler,  that  whosoever 
refused  or  omitted  to  acknowledge  it,  by  refusing  or 
omitting  to  observe  the  prescribed  sign,  was  therefore 
to  be  put  to  death. 

From  the  nature  of  the  sign — the  consecration  and 
observance  of  the  seventh  day — it  is  obvious  that  the 
reason  why  that  was  appointed  instead  of  any  other 
significant  ordinance,  was,  as  the  text  so  emphatically 
declares,  because  the  work  of  creation  had  been 
accomplished  in  six  days.  That  sign  in  preference  to 
any   other    could    not  have  been  prescribed,  had  the 


REASON   AND   OBJECT   OF   THE   SABBATH.  59 

heavens  and  earth  been  created  myriads  of  ages  before 
the  creation  of  man. 

To  guard  the  Israelites  against  idolatry,  and  against 
infidelity  and  error  as  to  their  Creator  and  his  preroga- 
tives, it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  institute  a 
memorial  of  his  works  as  Creator,  a  remembrancer,  a 
sign,  distinct  from  their  ordinary  avocations,  to  recur 
and  be  recognized  at  frequent  intervals,  interwoven 
with  their  religious  obligations  and  duties,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  a  penalty  as  severe  as  that  denounced  upon 
idolaters. . 

The  Sabbath  was  instituted  in  paradise,  and  no 
doubt  was  observed  and  regarded  from  that  time  for- 
ward as  a  sign,  and  testimony  that  in  the  six  natural 
days  which  preceded  its  institution,  the  Lord  created 
the  heavens,  the  earth,  the  seas,  and  all  that  in  them 
is,  and  rested  on  the  consecrated  seventh  day.  Hence 
when  the  manna  was  first  dispensed  in  the  wilder- 
ness, shortly  after  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  and 
prior  to  the  scenes  at  Sinai,  we  read  Exod.  xvi.  23, 
that  on  the  sixth  day  the  people  gathered  a  double 
supply,  and  Moses  said,  "  This  is  that  which  the  Lord 
hath  said,  to-morrow  is  the  rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath 
unto  the  Lord."  He  then  directs  them  to  use  what 
was  needful  on  the  sixth  day,  and  the  remainder  on  the 
seventh,  the  Sabbath  day,  when  there  would  be  none 
in  the  field.     "  Six  days  shall  ye  gather  it ;  but  on 


60  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

the  seventh,  which  is  the  Sabbath  day,  there  shall  be 
none." 

To  maintain  the  conviction  and  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  fact  that  in  six  days  God  created  the 
heavens  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  things  therein, 
was  to  maintain  the  conviction  and  public  acknow- 
ledgment that  Jehovah  the  self-existent,  the  God  of 
Israel,  was  the  Creator  ;  and  that  he  accomplished  the 
work  of  creation,  not  at  different,  undefined,  and 
unknown  periods,  but  at  one  period,  one  epoch,  a 
denned,  appreciable,  familiar  space  of  six  days.  The 
idolatry  (namely  the  worship  of  Bel,  Baal,  Beelzebub, 
Satan)  which  prevailed  in  Egypt  and  in  Canaan  when 
Moses  wrote,  denied  these  facts ;  and  regarded  the 
world  as  eternal,  or  ascribed  the  works  of  creation  as 
it  did  the  works  of  providence,  to  the  created  intelli- 
gence denominated  Bel,  Baal,  &c,  and  assigned  to 
him  the  sun  as  his  tabernacle  and  Shekina.  The 
antagonism  and  rivalship  of  Satan  required  the 
homage  of  his  followers  ;  to  secure  which,  required  on 
his  part,  the  arrogation  of  those  works,  prerogatives, 
and  rights,  on  which  the  claims  of  Jehovah  as  Creator 
and  moral  governor  were  founded.  Hence  to  side 
with  that  arrogant  and  usurping  adversary,  disregard- 
ing the  Divine  testimony  concerning  the  fact  of  the 
creation  in  six  days,  forgetting,  despising,  and  violating 
the  hallowed  seventh  day  as  the  appointed  sign  and 


OPPOSITION   TO   IDOLATRY.  61 

memorial  of  that  fact,  and  thereby  denying  that  Jeho- 
vah was  the  Creator,  and  that,  because  he  created  all 
things,  he  was  entitled  to  their  universal  homage  and 
obedience,  was  treason  against  him,  and  deserved  the 
penalty  of  death. 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  the  necessity,  appro- 
priateness, grandeur,  and  beauty,  of  the  first  table  of 
the  Decalogue  is  apparent.  There  is  a  striking  signifi- 
cance in  the  order  and  succession  of  commands. 
Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me ;  in  my  sight, 
or  in  preference  to  me.  Thou  shalt  not  make,  bow 
down  to,  or  serve  any  graven  image,  or  any  likeness 
of  anything  in  heaven  or  earth,  any  creature  supposed 
to  exist  in  the  celestial  orbs,  or  any  creature  on  earth  ; 
for  I  the  Lord  thy  Grod  am  a  jealous  God.  Thou 
shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain. 
Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy  !  It  is 
quite  apparent  from  these  inhibitions,  that  it  was  the 
impious  rival  system  of  idolatry  that  was  to  be  resisted 
and  avoided,  as  denying  the  Jehovah  to  be  the  Creator, 
and  therefore  the  only  lawgiver  and  ruler,  and  as 
ascribing  his  prerogatives  to  creatures. 

Idolatry  then,  and  ever  since,  has  not  only  denied 
the  exclusive  claims  of  Jehovah  to  homage  and  obe- 
dience, but  has  been  no  less  conspicuously  character- 
ized as  substituting  creature  mediators  and  interces- 
sors, in  place  of  the  one  Divine  Mediator.     It  is  a  rival 


62  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

system  ;  a  false  religion  in  opposition  to  the  true ;  a 
system  of  creature  worship  in  opposition  to  the  worship 
of  God  the  Creator.  To  prohibit  and  guard  against 
it,  therefore,  was  of  the  highest  importance.  It 
usurped  the  homage  and  allegiance  which  was  due  to 
God  the  Creator,  and  stood  forth  in  public  and  arro- 
gant opposition  to  him,  in  its  forms,  examples,  and 
pretensions  ;  and  therefore  he  regarded  it  with  jea- 
lousy and  indignation,  and  declared  himself  in  relation 
to  it,  "  a  jealous  God,  a  consuming  fire  !"  "  They 
provoked  him  to  jealousy  with  strange  gods,  with 
abominations  provoked  they  him  to  anger.  They 
sacrificed  unto  devils,  not  to  God  ;  to  gods  whom  they 
knew  not.  Of  the  Rock  that  begat  thee  thou  art 
unmindful,  and  hast  forgotten  God  that  formed  thee. 
And  when  the  Lord  saw  it  he  abhorred  them  ;  and  he 
said,  I  will  hide  my  face  from  them.  They  have 
moved  me  to  jealousy  with  that  which  is  not  God, 
they  have  provoked  me  to  anger  with  their  vanities." 
— Deut.  xxxii.  16-21.  Again  ;  "  If  there  should  be 
among  you  man  or  woman,  or  family,  or  tribe,  whose 
heart  turneth  away  from  the  Lord  our  God,  to  go  and 
serve  the  gods  of  these  nations,  the  Lord  will  not  spare 
him,  but  then  the  anger  of  the  Lord  and  his  jealousy 
shall  smoke  against  that  man,  and  all  the  curses  that 
are  written  in  this  book  shall  lie  upon  him." — Deut. 
xxix.  18-20. 


OPPOSITION   TO   IDOLATRY.  63 

To  show  the  impotence  and  vanity  of  idols  it  is 
said  :  "  The  Lord  is  the  true  God  ;  He  is  the  living 
God,  and  an  everlasting  king;  at  his  wrath  the  earth 
shall  tremble,  and  the  nations  shall  not  be  able  to 
abide  his  indignation.  Thus  shall  ye  say  unto  the 
gods  which  have  not  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
even  they  shall  perish  from  the  earth,  and  from  under 
these  heavens.  He  hath  made  the  earth  by  his 
power  ;  He  hath  established  the  world  by  his  wisdom, 
and  hath  stretched  out  the  heavens  by  his  discretion. 
Every  man  is  brutish  in  his  knowledge  ;  every  founder 
is  confounded  by  the  graven  image  ;  for  his  molten 
image  is  falsehood,  and  there  is  no  breath  in  them. 
They  are  vanity  and  the  work  of  errors  ;  in  the  time 
of  their  visitation  they  shall  perish.  The  portion  of 
Jacob  is  not  like  them  ;  but  he  is  the  former  of  all 
things." — Jer.  x.  10-16. 

The  creation  and  proprietorship  of  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  are  often  ascribed  to  Jehovah  as  the  ground 
of  his  claim  to  supreme  homage  and  obedience,  and  his 
prohibition  of  idolatry.  Thus  Moses  in  his  exhortation 
— Beut.  x.  and  xi.  "  And  now,  Israel,  what  doth  the 
Lord  thy  God  require  of  thee,  but  to  fear  the  Lord  thy 
God,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and  to  love  him,  and  to 
serve  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  to  keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord 
and  his  statutes,  which  I  command  thee  this  day  for 


64  THE   EPOCH  OF   CREATION. 

thy  good.  Behold  the  heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  hea- 
vens is  the  Lord's  thy  God,  the  earth  also,  with  all 
that  therein  is.  Take  heed  to  yourselves,  that  your 
heart  be  not  deceived,  and  ye  turn  aside,  and  serve 
other  gods,  and  worship  them  ;  and  then  the  Lord's 
wrath  be  kindled  against  you,  and  He  shut  up  the 
heavens  that  there  be  no  rain,  and  that  the  land  yield 
not  her  fruit,  lest  ye  perish  quickly,"  &o. 

"  By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made, 
and  all  the  host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth. 
He  gathereth  the  waters  of  the  sea  together  as  a  heap  : 
he  layeth  up  the  depth  in  storehouses.  Let  all  the 
earth  fear  the  Lord.  Let  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
world  stand  in  awe  of  him.  For  he  spake  and  it  was 
done,  he  commanded  and  it  stood  fast." — Ps.  xxxiii. 

"  Their  idols  are  silver  and  gold,  the  work  of  men's 
hands ;  they  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them ;  so 
is  every  one  that  trusteth  in  them.  0  Israel,  trust  in 
the  Lord.  Ye  are  blessed  of  the  Lord  which  made 
heaven  and  earth." — Psalm  cv. 

When  Sennacherib  trusting  in  his  idols  invaded 
Judea  and  sent  to  reproach  and  defy  the  God  of 
Israel,  Hezekiah  prayed,  saying,  "  0  Lord  of  hosts, 
God  of  Israel,  that  dwellest  between  the  cherubims, 
thou  art  the  God,  even  thou  alone,  of  all  the  kingdoms 
pf  the  earth  :  thou  hast  made  heaven  and  earth." — 
Isa.  xxxvii. 


VANITY   OF    IDOLS.  65 

"  Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praised  :  he 
also  is  to  be  feared  above  all  gods.  For  all  the  gods 
of  the  people  are  idols  ;  but  the  Lord  made  the  hea- 
vens."— 1  Chron.  xvi. 

"  Thus  saith  God  the  Lord,  he  that  created  the 
heavens  and  stretched  them  out,  he  that  spreadeth 
forth  the  earth,  and  that  which  cometh  out  of  it,  lam 
the  Lord,  that  is  my  name  ;  and  my  glory  will  I  not 
give  to  another,  neither  my  praise  to  graven  images." 
— Isa.  xlii. 

"  They  that  make  a  graven  image  are  all  of  them 
vanity,"  &c. — "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  thy  Redeemer,  I 
am  the  Lord  that  maketh  all  things,  that  stretcheth 
forth  the  heavens  alone,  that  spreadeth  abroad  the 
earth  by  myself,  that  frustrateth  the  tokens  of  the 
liars,  and  maketh  diviners  mad." — Isa.  xliv. 

':  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  and 
his  Maker,  I  have  made  the  earth,  and  created  man 
upon  it ;  I,  even  my  hands  have  stretched  out  the 
heavens,  and  all  their  host  have  I  commanded. — Thus 
saith  the  Lord  that  created  the  heavens,  God  himself 
that  formed  the  earth  and  made  it ;  he  hath  estab- 
lished it ;  he  created  it  not  in  vain  ;  he  formed  it  to 
be  inhabited  :  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else. — 
They  have  no  knowledge  that  set  up  the  wood  of  their 
graven  image,  and  pray  unto  a  god  that  cannot  save." 
— Isa   xlv. 


66  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

The  foregoing  conclusion  respecting  the  creation  of 
all  things  in  six  days,  is  confirmed  by  the  narrative  in 
the  second  chapter  of  Genesis  ;  wherein,  as  in  various 
other  Scriptures,  the  gloss,  proposed  by  Dr.  Smith  and 
others,  on  the  wovdmade,  as  though  it  meant  arranged, 
disposed,  or  something  short  of  creation,  is  refuted. 
For  on  the  supposition  that  the  earth  was  created  at 
an  earlier  epoch,  and  that  this  word  in  the  narrative 
of  the  six  days  refers  only  to  the  disposing,  arranging, 
or  fitting  up  of  the  chaotic  materials  of  the  pre-exist- 
ing earth,  we  must  conclude  that  there  was  no  proper 
creation  of  man,  or  of  the  animals  and  plants,  said  to 
have  been  made  in  the  six  days. 

"  These  are  the  generations  [that  is,  the  foregoing 
are  the  leading  facts  respecting  the  origin]  of  the 
heavens  and  of  the  earth,  when  they  were  created,  in 
the  day  that  the  Lord  God  made  the  earth  and  the 
heavens  [here  the  words  made  and  created  evidently 
relate  to  the  same  acts] ;  and  made  every  plant  of  the 
field  before  it  grew"  [that  is,  he  made  the  plants  at  the 
same  time  that  he  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
and  made  them  before  they  grew  for  the  reason  which 
follows],  "  for  the  Lord  (3rod  had  not  caused  it  to  rain 
on  the  earth,  and  there  was  not  a  man  to  till  the 
ground.  And  the  Lord  Gcod  formed  man  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath   of    life,    and    man  became   a  living  soul." — 


FURTHER  REFERENCE  TO  THE  SIX  DATS.      67 

G-en.  ii.  Elsewhere  in  the  historical,  poetical,  and 
prophetic  books,  the  heavens  and  the  earth  are  said  to 
have  been  made. 

The  geologists  who  profess  to  believe  the  Scriptures 
generally  admit  that  there  was  a  creation  in  the  "  six 
days  ;"  a  creation  of  man,  and  of  the  plants  and  ani- 
mals known  to  subsequent  history.  But  if  the  earth 
had  been  improved,  during  countless  ages,  by  all  the 
laws  and  agencies  of  nature,  and  was  not  in  a  state 
of  chaos  at  the  commencement  of  the  six  days,  what 
does  the  narrative  of  the  second  and  third  days  mean 
by  the  division  of  the  waters,  the  separation  of  the  seas 
from  the  dry  land,  &c.  ?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was 
in  such  chaotic  state,  how  came  it  so  ?  or  had  it  dur- 
ing untold  periods  been  stocked  with  plants  and  ani- 
mals, without  light,  without  rain,  and  without  even  a 
separation  of  the  land  from  the  seas,  and  "  the  gather- 
ing together  of  the  ocean  waters  into  one  place,  so 
that  the  dry  land  might  appear." — Gren.  i.  9,  10,  anu 
ii.  5. 

"Without  pursuing  further  the  argument  from  the 
fact  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  things, 
were  created  in  six  days,  by  noticing  the  very  numer- 
ous instances  in  which  to  renew  and  reiterate  the 
remembrance  of  it,  and  the  conviction  of  the  moral 
and  religious  obligations  and  duties  which  resulted 
from  that  fact,  the  numbers  six  and  seven  respectively 


68  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

are  affixed  to  the  prescriptions  respecting  the  taber- 
nacle and  its  furniture,  and  to  those  in  relation  to  the 
ritual  observances,  privileges,  offerings,  feasts,  and 
celebrations  ;  it  is  evident  that  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
Mosaic  economy  rests  on  the  fact  in  question  as  its 
corner-stone.  On  that  fact  the  claims  of  Jehovah  as 
Creator,  Lawgiver,  and  Ruler,  depend.  On  the  basis 
of  that  fact  he  claims  the  homage  and  obedience  of 
men.  And  it  is  accordingly  set  forth  most  prominently 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Scripture  narrative,  and 
reiterated  as  occasions  arose  for  asserting  the  preroga- 
tives and  rights  of  which  it  was  the  basis. 

The  great  controversy,  of  which  hitherto  this  world 
has  been  the  scene,  which  has  furnished  the  materials 
of  its  history,  and  especially  of  that  contained  in  the 
Old  Testament,  relates  primarily  and  essentially  only 
to  the  question,  whether  Jehovah  the  Creator,  and  as 
the  Creator,  or  Baal  .the  creature,  was  the  true  Grod, 
to  whom  the  homage  and  obedience  of  all  created 
moral  agents  was  due.  This  controversy,  from  the 
apostasy  to  the  present  time,  has  been  carried  on  by 
the  great  adversary,  chiefly  by  means  of  idolatry,  the 
organized,  most  manageable,  and  most  effective  system 
of  antagonism  and  rivalship  which  was  possible  to 
fallen  creatures.  And  accordingly,  to  rebuke  and 
resist  this  system,  the  judgments  inflicted  upon  rulers 
and  people,  from  the  Deluge  to  the   Babylonish  exile, 


RESISTANCE   TO   IDOLATRY.  69 

are,  in  most  instances,  expressly  declared  to  have  been 
designed  to  cause  them  to  know  that  Jehovah  was  the 
living  and  true  Grod,  the  Creator  and  Moral  Governor 
of  the  world. 

Had  the  sacred  writers  only  stated  in  general  terms 
that  Grod  created  the  celestial  bodies  and  the  earth, 
without  associating  with  that  statement  a  detail  of  all 
the  visible  objects  of  creation,  so  as  to  exclude  the  idea 
of  any  other  creator  of  any  of  those  objects  ;  and 
including  in  their  statement  man,  who  was  to  be 
guarded  against  idolatry,  imposture,  and  error,  their 
testimony,  however  correct  as  far  as  it  went,  would 
not  have  met  the  exigencies  of  the  case. 

Had  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  asserted  the  creation 
at  an  indefinitely  remote,  uncertain,  and  unknown 
epoch,  wholly  unassociated  with  man  as  a  creature, 
and  with  his  relations  and  duties  as  a  moral  agent,  no 
such  sign  as  the  sanctification  of  the  seventh  day,  to 
re-express  and  perpetuate  the  fact  that  Jehovah  was 
the  Creator,  could  have  been  instituted  ;  nor  would  the 
bare  assertion  that  he  was  the  Creator,  without  such 
a  significant  and  oft-recurring  sign,  founded  in  the  de- 
tails of  the  works  of  creation,  and  interwoven  with  the 
moral  relations  and  obligations  of  man,  have  served 
to  guard  him  against  the  wiles  of  the  antagonist 
system. 

To  the  same  effect  it  may  be  observed,  that  most  of 


70 


THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 


the  miraculous  interpositions  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  are  declared  to  have  been  designed  to 
produce  a  conviction  that  Jehovah  was  the  only  living 
and  true  God,  the  Creator  and  (xoverncr  of  the  world, 
and  that  idols  were  vanity  and  imposture.  Those 
interpositions  were  public  and  visible  manifestations 
of  Jehovah's  supremacy  and  power  over  the  objects  of 
idolatrous  homage,  and  over  all  creatures.  The  bare 
verbal  assertion  of  such  supremacy  and  power  was 
insufficient.  The  object  required  acts  and  results 
which  could  be  seen  and  felt,  and  the  particulars  of 
which  could  be  propagated  by  report  and  recorded  for 
perusal. 

The  destruction  of  Sodom,  the  miracles  of  Egypt,  of 
the  Red  Sea,  of  the  wilderness,  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan,  the  conquest  of  Jericho,  and  many  others 
might  be  referred  to.  But  no  one  is  more  in  point 
than  that  of  the  arrest  of  the  sun  and  moon  by  the 
Divine  power  through  the  instrumentality  of  Joshua. 
Those  luminaries  were  the  objects  of  the  idolatrous 
confidence  and  worship  of  the  kings  and  people  of 
Canaan,  who  with  their  idol  system  were  to  be 
rebuked,  confounded,  and  destroyed. 

This  signal  exhibition  of  the  power  of  the  G-od  of 
Israel  over  those  celestial  orbs  and  over  the  elements, 
occurred  at  a  period  of  the  war  when  it  was  most 
wanted  to  reassure  and  embolden  the  Israelites,  and  to 


TRIAL   OF   IDOLATRY   AT   GIBEO^.  71 

dishearten  and  terrify  the  hosts  of  idolatry  throughout 
the  whole  country.  The  army  of  Joshua  had  recently 
been  repulsed  and  dismayed  at  Ai.  The  defection  of 
the  GHbeonites  from  their  former  allies  and  their  league 
with  the  princes  of  Israel,  had  induced  the  neighbor- 
ing five  kings  of  the  Amorites  and  their  armies  to 
march  upon  Gribeon  with  a  determination  to  destroy 
it.  They  were  aware  of  the  total  destruction  of 
Jericho  and  of  Ai ;  and  when  they  heard  that  the 
Oribeonites  had  joined  the  invaders,  "  they  feared 
greatly,"  and  doubtless  hoped  by  promptly  destroying 
them  to  prevent  further  defection,  and  with  their  com- 
bined force  to  encounter  and  drive  back  the  army  of 
Israel.  This,  therefore,  was  to  be  a  decisive  battle. 
It  was  now  to  be  seen  whether  those  who  trusted  in 
idols  or  those  who  trusted  in  Jehovah,  were  to  be 
triumphant.  The  great  question  at  issue,  the  contro- 
versy between  the  Grod  of  Israel  and  Baal,  the  question 
which  of  them  was  superior  to  the  other,  and  able  to 
maintain  his  claims,  was  to  be  so  tried  as  to  foreshow 
and  decide  the  issue  of  the  whole  campaign.  To 
accomplish  all  this,  and  to  strike  all  the  other  kings 
and  armies  of  Canaan  with  terror  and  dismay,  it  was 
necessary  not  merely  to  exterminate  the  confederate 
Amorites,  but  signally  and  visibly  to  confound  and 
triumph  over  their  idols;  as  in  the  plagues  of  Egypt 
and   the  destruction  of    their    first-born,    it  is  said. 


72  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

"  Against  all  the  gods  of  Egypt  I  will  execute  judg- 
ment, I  am  the  Jehovah." 

Joshua,  therefore,  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action. 
The  Lord  said  unto  him,  Fear  them  not,  for  I  have 
delivered  them  into  thy  hand.  And  the  Lord  discom- 
fited them  before  Israel,  and  showered  a  storm  of  hail- 
stones upon  them  ;  and  when  the  rout  and  the  panic 
were  at  their  height,  at  the  uplifted  voice  of  Joshua, 
he  suspended  the  revolution  of  the  earth  so  that  the 
sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  was  stayed,  until  the 
people  had  avenged  themselves  upon  their  enemies — 
the  sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted 
not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day  ;  and  there  was  no 
day  like  that,  before  it,  or  after  it — for  the  Lord 
fought  for  Israel ! 

Thus  this  miracle,  like  all  other  extraordinary  inter- 
positions, was  wrought  for  adequate  reasons  ;  reasons 
founded  in  the  prerogatives  and  moral  purposes  of 
(rod,  and  relating  directly  to  the  moral  interests  and 
duties  of  man.  It  was  of  a  nature  to  be  notorious  and 
irresistibly  convincing  to  all  the  idolaters  on  the 
earth.  It  showed  that  Jehovah  the  Creator  had  abso- 
lute power  over  the  sun,  moon,  and  earth,  and  all 
creatures,  and  therefore  that  idols  were  vain  and 
impious  ;  and  it  had  such  effect  that  Joshua  met  with 
but  faint  opposition  in  his  subsequent  triumphs  ;  an 
effect  which  could  not  have  been  produced  either  upon 


FURTHER   REBUKE   OF   IDOLATRY.  73 

the  Israelites  or  upon  the  idolaters  by  a  mere  verbal 
announcement  that  the  God  of  Israel  was  able  to  do 
such  wonders. 

A.  miracle  similar  in  its  nature  and  object  is 
recorded  in  the  history  of  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah. 
According  to  the  succession  of  events,  as  narrated  in 
Isaiah,  2  Kings  and  2  Chronicles ;  Sennacherib  king 
of  Assyria,  a  zealous  worshipper  of  Baal  and  his 
images,  emboldened  by  the  success  of  his  grandfather 
and  his  father  in  subduing  and  carrying  the  ten 
tribes  into  captivity  and  capturing  their  idols  ;  and  by 
his  own  and  their  success  in  vanquishing  several 
neighboring  kings  and  their  idol  gods,  invaded  Judah, 
and  sent  an  insolent  and  blasphemous  message  to 
Hezekiah  and  his  people  defying  and  contemning  the 
G-od  of  Israel,  as  of  no  more  power  to  withstand  him 
and  his  idol  god,  than  the  nations  and  idols  which  he 
had  subdued  and  destroyed.  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Israel,  vindicated  his  supremacy,  and  confounded  the 
Assyrians  and  their  idols,  by  miraculously  destroying 
185,000  of  the  invading  army,  and  thereby  freeing 
Jerusalem  and  Judea  from  their  designs. 

Owing  probably  to  his  neglect  publicly  to  acknow- 
ledge this  signal  deliverance,  and  to  celebrate  the 
power  and  glory  of  the  Deliverer,  and  as  a  censure  also 
of  his  league  with  the  idolaters  of  Egypt  to  assist  him 
against  the  Assyrians,  Hezekiah  was  visited  with  a 
4 


74  THE   EPOCH    OF   CREATION. 

mortal  sickness.  In  answer  to  his  earnest  entreaties, 
his  term  of  life  was  extended  fifteen  years ;  and  as  a 
sign  that  he  should  be  miraculously  restored,  and  at 
the  same  time  as  an  exhibition  of  Jehovah's  power 
over  the  celestial  objects  of  idolatrous  homage  in 
Egypt  and  the  surrounding  kingdoms,  he  caused  the 
sun  to  recede  ten  degrees,  a  space  probably  of  about 
three  hours,  on  the  dial  of  Ahaz.  The  report  of  this  pro- 
digy was  widely  circulated.  The  princes  of  Babylon, 
the  metropolis  of  Baal,  sent  ambassadors  to  Hezekiah 
"  to  inquire  of  the  wonder  that  was  done  in  the  land." 
The  whole  fabric  and  hierarchy  of  idolatry  were 
confounded  by  the  annihilation  of  the  Assyrian  army, 
and  the  display  of  the  supremacy  and  power  of  the 
God  of  Israel,  over  the  celestial  orbs. 

To  the  same  purpose,  in  the  controversy  between 
Elijah  and  the  prophets  of  Baal,  answering  by  fire, 
was  to  determine  whether  Jehovah  or  Baal  was  the 
true  God.  Ahab  and  his  party  worshipped  the  solar 
fire,  under  the  idea  of  an  intelligence  residing  in  the 
sun,  as  the  supreme  ruler.  To  that  rival  intelligence 
and  adversary  they  prayed,  and  offered  human  sacri- 
fices ;  and  to  represent  him  when  the  sun  was  out  of 
sight  they  constructed  idols,  molten  images,  in  imita- 
tion of  those  of  Egypt  and  surrounding  nations. 
Elijah  accordingly  says  to  the  prophets  of  Baal,  "  Call 
ye  on  the  name  of  your  Elohim ;  and  I  will  call  on  the 


TRIAL   OF   IDOLATRY   AT   CARMEL.  75 

name  of  Jehovah  ;  and  the  Elohim  that  answereth  by- 
fire,  let  him  be  Elohim." — "And  they  called  on  the 
name  of  Baal  from  morning  even  until  noon,  saying, 
0  Baal,  hear  us.  But  there  was  no  voice,  nor  any 
that  answered." — "  And  Elijah  said,  Jehovah,  Elohim 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  of  Israel,  let  it  be  known  this 
day  that  thou  art  Elohim  in  Israel,  and  that  I  am  thy 
servant,  and  that  I  have  done  all  these  things  at  thy 
word.  Hear  me,  0  Jehovah,  hear  me,  that  this  people 
may  know  that  thou  art  the  Jehovah  Elohim. — Then 
the  fire  of  Jehovah  fell,  and  consumed  the  sacrifice, 
&c.  And  when  all  the  people  saw  it,  they  fell  on  their 
faces :  and  they  said,  The  Jehovah,  he  is  the  Elohim : 
the  Jehovah,  he  is  the  Elohim." — 1  Kings  xviii. 

The  frequent  manifestation  of  the  presence  and 
agency  of  Jehovah  in  fire  as  a  visible  shekina,  or 
cloud-like  envelope3  gave  occasion  probably  to  the 
antagonist  and  rival  system.  Thus,  in  the  cherubim 
stationed  at  the  gate  of  Eden,  and  doubtless  in  many 
other  instances  prior  to  the  Deluge.  In  the  more 
ample  narrative  of  events  after  the  institution  of  idola- 
try by  the  descendants  of  Noah,  we  have  frequent 
notices  of  such  Divine  manifestations  ;  as  at  the  cove- 
nant with  Abraham  ;  in  the  burning  bush,  on  Mount 
Sinai,  in  the  pillar  of  fire,  at  the  dedication  of  the 
tabernacle  and  temple ;  at  the  destruction  of  Nadab 
and  Abihu  ;  at  the  sacrifices  of  Manoah  and  Gideon  ; 


76  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

and  in  the  visions  of  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel. 
This  mode  of  manifestation  was  evidently  familiar  to 
the  Israelites  at  every  period  of  their  history  ;  and  its 
appropriateness  as  a  test,  when  the  devotees  of  Baal 
were  to  be  confounded,  is  manifest.  If,  as  required 
by  the  proposal  of  Elijah,  Baal,  the  pretended  fire-god, 
who  arrogated  to  himself  that  element  as  his  resi- 
dence, the  vehicle  of  his  agency,  and  token  of  his 
prerogatives  and  power,  could  not,  when  called  on, 
answer,  and  vindicate  himself  by  fire,  all  men  would 
see  that  he  was  not  Elohim,  but  an  arrogant  impostor. 
This  high  controversy  which  commenced  with  the 
apostacy,  and  is  not  yet  terminated,  was  foreseen 
before  the  creation.  The  Creator  himself  was  to  be  a 
party  to  it ;  and  he  took  care  in  recording  the  work  of 
creation  to  specify  the  visible  objects  and  creatures  in 
their  several  kinds,  which  he  made ;  and  to  associate 
with  the  narrative  of  his  acts  as  Creator,  the  exercise 
of  his  prerogatives  and  rights  as  Moral  Governor,  and 
to  institute  a  memorial,  a  sign,  a  solemn  weekly  obser- 
vance, with  which  their  highest  religious  duties,  obli- 
gations, and  hopes,  were  indissolably  connected,  to 
perpetuate  the  conviction  and  the  most  distinct  and 
public  acknowledgment,  that  he  alone  was  the  Creator, 
and  that  he  created  all  things  in  the  space  of  six 
days. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

The  references  to  the  Work  of  the  Creation  in  the  New,  in  Harmony 
with  those  of  the  Old  Testament — Coincidence  of  the  first  verses  of 
the  Gospel  of  John  with  the  first  of  Genesis — Incidental  allusions  to 
the  Epoch  of  Creation — That  Man  and  the  Material  Worlds  were 
Created  at  the  same  Epoch,  implied  in  all  that  Relates  to  the  Work  of 
Redemption,  and  in  all  the  Ascriptions  of  Praise  to  the  Creator  for  the 
Perfection  of  his  Works- 

The  opening  of  John  is,  both  in  its  terms  and  im- 
port, the  counterpart  of  the  first  verse  of  G-enesis,  "  In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word  ;  and  the  Word  was  with 
God  ;  and  the  Word  was  G-od.  The  same  was  in  the 
beginning  with  Grod.  All  things  were  made  by  him. 
— He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by 
him. — And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us." 

In  these  statements  it  was  the  object  of  the  evan- 
gelist to  ascribe  the  creation  of  all  things  to  the  Logos, 
the  personal  Word,  and  thereby  to  attest  his  Divinity. 
He  very  probably  had  it  in  view  to  refute  the  Grnostic 
heresy,  which  ascribed  the  work  of  creation  not  to  the 


78 


THE   EPOCH    OF   CREATION. 


Deity,  but  to  a  created  intelligence,  or  partly  to  a  good 
and  partly  to  an  evil  angel. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  he  ascribes  the  work  of 
creation  not  to  the  second  Person  in  the  Godhead,  as 
such  ;  but  to  that  Person  in  the  delegated,  official 
character,  in  which  he  became  incarnate,  and  dwelt 
on  earth.  He  therefore  sustained  that  character  in 
the  beginning,  at  the  production  of  the  first-fruits  of 
creative  energy.  In  that  character  he  was  with  God, 
and  "  had  glory  with  him  before  the  world  was."  To 
assert  that  the  second  Person,  as  such,  in  distinction 
from  his  delegated  character,  was  in  the  beginning, 
was  with  God,  and  was  Grod,  would  not  have  sub- 
served the  writer's  object,  for  those  things  could  not 
be  questioned  by  any  who  acknowledged  the  existence 
of  that  Person  ;  and  it  would  be  to  apply  to  him  a 
name  or  designation  applicable  to  his  official  Person 
only.  But  to  say  that  He  who  appeared  incarnate, 
and  was  distinguished  as  the  "Word,  was  in  the  begin- 
ning, was  with  God,  and  was  God,  was  in  every 
respect  appropriate,  as  an  introduction  to  the  ascription 
to  him  of  the  work  of  creation.  It  was  in  that  char- 
acter that  he  said  of  himself,  "  before  Abraham  was, 
I  am."  And  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  it  is  said 
of  him,  that  "he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all 
things  consist." 

From  these  considerations  it  is  to  be  inferred  that 


CREATION — WORK    OF   CHRIST.  79 

the  creation  of  all  things  was  a  part  of  the  work  dele- 
gated to  the  Logos,  the  anointed  official  Person  ;  and 
was  in  order  to  the  other  works  comprised  in  his  under- 
taking ;  in  the  progress  of  which  he  took  man's  nature 
into  union  with  his  Person.  In  that  view  of  him  and 
his  work  it  is  written,  "  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to 
receive  glory,  honor,  and  power  ;  for  thou  hast  created 
all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were 
created  :"  and  "that  God  created  all  things  by  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  intent  that  now  unto  principalities  and 
powers  in  heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  (means 
of  the  redemption  of)  the  Church,  the  manifold  wisdom 
of  God,  according  to  the  eternal  purpose,  which  he 
purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  And  again : 
"  For  by  him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  hea- 
ven, and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible — all 
things  were  created  by  him  and  for  him,  and  he  is 
before  all  things." 

The  meaning  of  the  phrase  in  the  beginning,  as 
employed  by  the  evangelist,  is  evidently  the  same  as 
that  in  Genesis  i.  1.  It  denotes  not  an  epoch,  or  any- 
thing in  relation  to  time  ;  but  the  initiatory  event  of  a 
series,  the  first  of  a  comprehensive  plan  of  arrange- 
ments, agencies,  and  events.  The  statement  that  "  in 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  is  equivalent  to  saying, 
that  the  appointment  of  the  second  Person  to  the  office 
of  mediator,  or  the  delegation  to  him  in  his  officially 


80  THE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

subordinate  Person  and  character  of  the  work  which 
he  undertook,  including  the  creation,  was  first  in  the 
series  of  measures  and  events  which  appertained  to 
that  work.  He  was,  or  existed  in  that  official  charac- 
ter, as  the  first  result  of  his  appointment.  As  the 
Anointed,  the  Christ,  he  was  with  G-od,  before  exer- 
cising his  creative  energy  in  the  work  of  creation  ; 
and  in  that  character  he  created  all  things.  Thou 
Lord  in  the  beginning  [at  the  commencement  of  thy 
work]  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the 
heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands.  He  was  appointed 
heir  of  all  things  which  were  to  be  brought  into  exist- 
ence, and  as  such,  he  made  the  worlds  and  all  things 
to  be  subservient  to  the  great  moral  purposes  which  he 
was  to  accomplish.  Having  created  the  earth,  instead 
of  leaving  it  through  millions  of  ages  without  occu- 
pants having  any  relation  to  his  moral  government, 
he  created  man,  and  invested  him  with  a  subordinate 
dominion  over  the  inferior  creatures,  to  rule  them  for 
himself,  "for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are 
all  things." 

In  this  view  of  his  person  and  office,  and  the  con- 
nection of  his  work  of  creating  and  upholding  all 
things  with  his  moral  and  providential  government, 
and  all  his  works  as  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King,  it 
would  be  more  than  irreverent  to  represent  him  as 
having    created  the  earth  myriads  of  ages  before  he 


CREATION  IN  ORDER  TO  PROVIDENCE.       SI 

created  man,  whose  nature,  in  order  to  the  execution 
of  the  most  important  and  glorious  part  of  his  whole 
uudertaking,  was  to  be  and  remain  forever  united  to 
his  Person. 

No  deductions  of  geology,  unsupported  by  and  irre- 
concilable with  the  teachings  of  revelation  concerning 
him,  can  justify  us  in  disconnecting  the  first  act  in 
the  execution  of  his  delegated  undertaking,  from  the 
series  to  which  that,  in  its  precedence  and  in  all  its 
relations,  was  essential. 

The  Scripture  account  makes  the  creation  the  basis 
and  commencement  of  that  great  scheme  of  providence 
and  redemption  about  which  the  entire  volume  of 
revelation  is  occupied.  Before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  in  that  covenant  transaction  in  which  originated 
the  office,  appointment,  and  delegated  authority,  and 
work,  of  him  by  whom  all  things  were  created,  those 
whom  he  was  to  redeem  "  were  chosen  in  him  ;  they 
were  foreordained  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  ; 
from  the  beginning  they  were  chosen  to  salvation  ;"  as 
if  all  the  works  of  creation  were  but  means  pre- 
requisite and  in  order  to  their  redemption.  Accord- 
ingly he  was  recognized  when  incarnate  as  having 
sustained  this  delegated  official  character  from  the 
origin  of  the  entire  scheme  of  creation,  providence,  and 
grace.  Hence  the  frequent  references  in  his  own  dis- 
courses and  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  to  the 


82  THE   EPOCH   OF   CEEATJON. 

foundation  or  creation  of  the  world  as  the  commence- 
ment of  his  office  and  administration.  He  taught  con- 
cerning himself  and  his  kingdom  things  "  which  had 
been  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
"  Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast  given 
me  be  with  me  where  I  am  ;  that  they  may  behold  my 
glory  which  thou  hast  given  me  ;  for  thou  lovedst  me 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world."  "  Come  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  "  For 
then  (if  Christ  offered  himself  periodically)  must  he 
often  have  suffered  since  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
"  That  the  blood  of  all  the  prophets,  which  was  shed 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  from  the  blood  of 
Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias — may  be  required  of 
this  generation."  "  Whose  names  were  not  written 
in  the  Book  of  Life  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
"  "Whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  Book  of  Life  of 
the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
"  Which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began. — Spoken  by  the  mouth 
of  his  holy  prophets  which  have  been  since  the  world 
began."  "  Since  the  world  began  was  it  not  heard 
that  any  man  opened  the  eyes  of  one  that  was  born 
blind."  "According  to  the  revelation  of  the  mystery 
which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began."     "  The 


NEW    TESTAMENT    DOCTRINE.  83 

\ 

hope  of  eternal  life  which  G-od,  that  cannot  lie,  pro- 
mised before  the  world  began." 

These  quotations  are  somewhat  multiplied,  to  show 
the  current  usage  of  Scripture  in  its  varied  and  inci- 
dental references  to  the  creation  of  the  world  as  to  an 
epoch,  or  stand-point,  with  which  the  commencement 
of  the  human  race  was  coeval.  No  one  can  possibly 
bring  himself  to  believe  that  the  sacred  writers  in 
these  comparisons  of  things  present,  with  things  done, 
existing,  or  commencing  at  the  creation  of  the  world, 
meant  to  refer  to  a  creation  myriads  of  ages  prior  to 
the  creation  of  man  ;  or  that  they  did  not  mean  to 
represent  that  the  foundation,  beginning,  creation  of 
the  world,  including  man,  took  place  at  one  and  the 
same  epoch — the  epoch  with  which  the  first  steps  and 
pledges  of  the  work  of  redemption  were  coincident, 
and  to  which,  historically,  the  agency  of  man,  the 
slaughter  of  Abel,  and  the  mission  of  the  earliest  pro- 
phets were  closely  related. 

In  the  vision,  Rev.  iv.,  which  John  had  of  the  Son 
of  God,  seated  on  a  throne  encircled  by  a  rainbow,  the 
token  of  his  covenant  relation  towards  his  people,  and 
with  the  accompaniment  of  other  insignia  of  his 
mediatorial  office,  as  in  the  similar  visions  of  Isaiah, 
Ezekiel,  and  Daniel,  he  is  worshipped  and  praised  by 
the  elders  and  representatives  of  all  his  holy  creatures, 
for  having  created  all  thing's,  and  having  created  them 


84  THE    EPOCH    OP    CBEATION. 

for  his  pleasure,  will,  or  purposes,  i.  e.,  to  be  the  scene 
and  the  instruments  of  his  providence  and  grace.  His 
worthiness  to  receive  such  homage  is  expressly  inferred 
from  his  having  created  all  things.  "  Thou  art  worthy, 
0  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and  power,  for  thou 
hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are 
and  were  created." 

Assuredly  the  creation  here  referred  to  cannot  have 
been  the  fitting  up  of  a  pre-existing  earth  ;  for  the 
fitting  up  supposed  by  the  geologists  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  "  six  days"  was  not  a  creation,  but  only  a 
modification,  by  which  the  earth  was  rendered  fit  to 
be  inhabited  by  man,  after  it  had  existed  and  been  the 
abode  of  animals  during  immeasurable  periods.  Such 
modifications,  even  if  man  and  certain  animals  were 
then  first  brought  into  existence,  could  not  be  called 
the  creation  of  all  things,  and  on  that  ground  be  made 
the  basis  of  a  claim  to  homage ;  for  in  the  all  things 
here,  as  in  every  parallel  passage,  the  heavens  and 
earth,  and  all  their  hosts,  are  included. 

Nor  can  the  creation  referred  to  mean  or  include  a 
creation  of  the  earth,  and  certain  animal  and  vege- 
table races,  millions  of  millions  of  ages  prior  to  the  crea- 
tion of  man.  For  if  such  creation  be  supposed,  it  could 
have  no  connection  with  the  mediatorial  work,  as  it 
would  have  comprised  no  intelligent  creatures,  no 
accountable  moral   agents;  and  it  is  not  conceivable 


GEOLOGICAL   ASSUMPTIONS.  85 

that  such  agents,  created  myriads  of  ages  afterwards, 
could  have  any  connection  with,  or  any  relation  to  it. 
That  supposed  primeval  earth,  as  the  geologists  teach 
us,  was  and  continued  to  be  in  a  state  of  chaos  (with- 
out order,  light,  or  life,  according  to  Dr.  Candlish),  or 
was  prior  to  the  "  six  days"  thrown  into  such  a  chaotic 
state  as  to  exterminate  all  its  races  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals, terrestrial  and  marine,  and  render  it  necessary 
to  create  new  races  to  stock  anew  the  waters  as  well 
as  the  dry  land.  Surely  it  is  not  conceivable  that  such 
a  creation,  so  totally  disconnected  with  man  and  with 
the  mediatorial  work,  should  be  referred  to  as  the 
ground  of  the  ascription  to  the  Mediator  of  glory, 
honor,  and  power,  as  being  for  his  pleasure,  and  sub- 
servient to  the  moral,  providential,  and  redemptive 
work,  for  which  he  is  worshipped  in  the  scene  in  ques- 
tion, as  is  evident  from  the  insignia  which  distinguished 
his  appearance. 

Again  :  the  alleged  primeval  earth  of  the  geologists 
is  supposed  by  them  to  have  been,  if  not  a  mere  chaos, 
wholly  without  order,  light,  and  life,  yet,  at  best,  to 
have  been  an  extremely,  nay,  inconceivably,  imperfect 
earth — an  earth  in  such  a  state  and  condition  as  with 
no  propriety  to  be  called  an  earth,  it  being  at  first,  and 
no  one  knows  for  how  many  myriads  of  ages,  unfit  for 
the  abode  of  the  meanest  insects  and  reptiles,  and  so 
unfit  for  the  abode  of  man,  its  intended  prince  and 


86  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

master,  as  to  require  a  course  of  alterations  and  im- 
provements to  be  carried  on  incessantly  through  immea- 
surable rounds  of  duration,  before  he  could  exist,  if 
created  or  developed  and  brought  upon  the  stage. 
After  it  had  so  far  been  improved  by  geological  causes 
as  to  admit  of  the  creation  of  some  of  the  lowest 
organisms,  the  Creator  interposed  and  brought  them 
into  existence ;  and  when,  according  to  the  laws  of 
their  nature,  which  (contrary  to  the  perfective  law  of 
the  embryo  earth)  was  a  law  of  decay  and  degrada- 
tion, they  "  died  out,"  and  took  their  permanent 
stations  as  organic  fossils  in  the  lowest  fossilliferous 
stratum,  the  Creator  interposed  again,  and  brought 
forward  a  class  of  creeping  things,  as  much  more  perfect 
than  the  class  which  had  died  out,  as  the  progress  of 
geological  improvement  would  permit.  By  the  repetition 
of  this  mechanical  tide-waiting  process,  as  often  as 
the  successive  creations,  when  their  places  of  abode 
became  too  perfect  for  their  natures,  declined  and  run 
out,  the  earth  at  last  came  to  be  stocked  with  animals 
wholly  unsuited  to  be  contemporary  with  man.  The 
development  had  gone  too  far, — a  retrograde  movement 
was  necessary.  It  was  not  only  necessary  to  extermi- 
nate all  the  animals  and  vegetables,  terrestrial  and 
marine,  of  the  latest  creation,  but  to  throw  the  earth 
itself  back  into  a  chaotic  state,  in  order,  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  "  six  days"  spoken  of  by  Moses,-  to  give  it 


GEOLOGICAL   ASSUMPTIONS   AS    TO    MAN.  87 

just  that  degree  of  perfection  which  would  make  it 
suitable  to  the  nature  of  man,  and  to  stock  the  seas, 
the  land,  and  the  atmosphere,  with  races  proper  to  be 
contemporary  with  him. 

"Wonderful  scheme  of  operations,  no  doubt,  consi- 
dered as  a  geological  contrivance,  and  as  a  total 
failure  up  to  the  epoch  of  the  "  six  days."  But  what 
is  to  be  thought  of  it,  considered  as  the  scheme  of  the 
Moral  Governor  of  the  Universe,  who  sees  the  end  from 
the  beginning,  and  acts  only  for  reasons  worthy  of  his 
infinite  perfections? 

Was  it  his  object,  during  the  untold  geological 
cycles,  to  bring  the  incipient  elementary  earth,  by  the 
operation  of  geological  causes,  to  such  a  state  of  per- 
fection, that  he  might  safely  bring  the  creature,  man, 
forward,  under  circumstances  compatible  with  his 
existence  ?  Man,  the  creature,  on  whose  account 
alone,  in  distinction  from  all  other  creatures,  the 
whole  process,  from  the  outset,  was  undertaken,  and 
in  comparison  with  whom,  all  other  creatures  were 
mere  foils,  dumb  shadows,  mute  emblems,  significant 
only  as  such,  and  as  petrified  monitors  in  the"  deep 
charnel-house  of  the  earth.  Man,  who  was  to  have 
dominion  over  all  other  creatures  on  the  earth,  "  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of 
the  seas,"  to  be  brought  into  existence  and  into  the 
scene  of  his    imperial    birthright,   after  innumerable 


88  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

creations  and  extinctions  of  distinct  and  entire  races 
of  his  destined  subjects  ?  Man,  whose  terrestrial 
supremacy  and  rule,  was  but  the  emblem  and  reflec- 
tion of  the  supremacy  and  rule  over  him  of  his  Creator 
and  Moral  Governor  ?  Man,  who  as  head  of  the  lower 
creation,  was  a  type  of  the  God-man  as  head  over  all 
things  visible  and  invisible ;  to  be  brought  into  exist- 
ence and  into  his  relation  of  headship  at  the  very 
close  of  a  long  series  of  distinct  and  widely  separated 
creations,  whose  death,  burial,  and  utter  extinction. 
had  rendered  them  incapable  of  a  head  ! 

This  beggarly,  earth-born  scheme,  is  scarcely  to  be 
treated  of  without  impatience  and  indignation.  It 
dishonors  every  attribute  of  the  eternal  self-existent 
Creator  ;  and  would  dishonor  any  human  mechanician, 
who  was  competent  to  his  undertaking.  To  suppose 
such  an  originally  imperfect  creation,  is  at  war  with 
all  analogy  in  the  works  of  the  all-perfect  Creator  as 
represented  in  the  Scriptures,  and  with  his  own 
emphatic  attestations.  It  indicates  nothing  of  wisdom 
or  forecast ;  nothing  of  subserviency  to  a  moral 
system,  of  the  progress  and  consummation  of  which 
it  was  to  be  the  scene.  As  a  theory  of  creation,  it 
makes  man  of  no  more  significance  than  a  reptile,  dis- 
tinguishing him  from  the  inferior  animals  only  as  they 
are  distinguished   from   one   another   by  respectively 


GEOLOGY  DEROGATORY  TO  THE  CREATOR.       89 

requiring  for  their  residence  a  more  perfect  habitation 
than  their  predecessors. 

It  is  derogatory  to  the  Creator,  and  a  denial  of  his 
perfection,  to  ascribe  to  him  the  creation  of  anything 
not  perfect  in  its  kind,  and  not  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  present  and  prospective  ends  and  uses  for  which  it 
was  designed.  It  is  because  all  his  works  are  perfect, 
and  by  their  perfection  brightly  reflect  and  clearly 
attest  his  perfection  and  declare  his  glory,  that  he  is 
praised  and  honored  for  them  by  all  holy  intelligences, 
in  heaven  and  on  earth. 

Accordingly  in  the  inspired  narrative  of  the  creation, 
we  have  the  Divine  attestation  repeatedly  expressed, 
that  the  things  created  then,  as  they  came  from  the 
hand  of  the  Creator,  were  good  ;  perfect  in  their  kind, 
their  nature,  their  adaptations  and  relations,  the  product 
and  type  of  the  perfection  which  designed  and  gave 
them  being.  The  light  was  good.  The  seas  and  the 
dry  land  were  good.  The  plants  and  trees  were  good. 
The  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  were  good.  The  terrestrial 
animals,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  were  good.  Man  and 
all  the  animal  and  vegetable  races,  were,  each  accord- 
ing to  its  nature,  perfect.  "  And  God  saw  everything 
that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very  good." 
They  neither  needed  nor  were  capable  of  any  improve- 
ment by  time  or  by  physical  changes.  Being  the 
product  and  expression  of  the  Creator's  infinite  perfeo- 


90  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

tion,  they  were  rightfully,  on  that  account,  to  be  the 
occasion  of  ceaseless  praise  from  all  creatures.  And 
hence  the  angels  and  hosts  of  heaven,  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,  man,  and  all  creatures  on  the  earth,  are 
again  and  again  called  on  "to  praise  the  name  of  the 
Lord,"  for  the  display  of  his  perfections  in  their  crea- 
tion ;  "  for  he  commanded,  and  they  were  created  ;  He 
hath  also  established  them  for  ever  and  ever  ;  he  hath 
made  a  decree  which  shall  not  pass — Let  them  praise 
the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  for  his  name  alone  is  excellent ; 
His  glory  is  above  the  earth  and  heavens." — Psalm 
cxlviii.  "  0  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works  !  in 
wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all ;  the  earth  is  full  of 
thy  riches ;  so  is  this  great  and  wide  sea." — Ps.  civ. 
"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  [the  sum  of 
his  revealed  perfections],  the  firmament  showeth  the 
work  of  his  hands." — Ps.  xix.  "  Rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
0  ye  righteous,  for  praise  is  comely  for  the  upright. 
He  loveth  righteousness  and  judgment ;  the  earth  is 
full  of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord.  By  the  word  of  the 
Lord  were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the  host  of  them 
by  the  breath  of  his  mouth.  He  gathereth  the  waters 
of  the  sea  together  as  a  heap  ;  he  layeth  up  the  depth 
in  store  houses.  Let  all  the  earth  fear  the  Lord  ;  let 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  stand  in  awe  of  him. 
For  he  spake  and  it  was  done,  he  commanded,  and  it 
stood   fast." — Ps.   xxxiii.     "  Blessed    be   thy  glorious 


SCKIPTTTKE   TESTIMONIES.  91 

name,  which  is  exalted  above  all  blessing  and  praise. 
Thou,  even  thou,  art  Lord  alone.  Thou  hast  made 
heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens  with  all  their  hosts,  the 
earth  and  all  things  that  are  therein,  the  sea  and  all 
that  is  therein,  and  thou  preservcst  them  all ;  and  the 
host  of  heaven  worshippeth  Thee." — Nehemiah  ix. 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord — I  have  made  the  earth  and 
created  man  upon  it ;  I,  even  my  hands  have  stretch- 
ed out  the  heavens  ;  and  all  their  host  have  I  com- 
manded. Thus  saith  the  Lord  that  created  the 
heavens  ;  God  himself  that  formed  the  earth,  and 
made  it ;  He  hath  established  it ;  He  created  it  not 
in  vain  ;  He  formed  it  to  be  inhabited  ;  I  am  the 
Lord,  and  there  is  none  else.  I  have  not  spoken  in 
secret." — Isaiah  xlv. 

In  many  of  the  Scriptures  hitherto  quoted,  the  crea- 
tion of  man  is  spoken  of  directly  or  by  implication,  in 
;>uch  connection  with  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and 
earth  as  plainly  to  convey  the  idea  that  they  were 
created  in  connection  with  each  other  at  one  epoch. 
The  same  idea  is  impressively  conveyed  in  numerous 
other  passages.  As  an  example  of  these,  at  the  close 
of  the  narration  of  the  six  days'  operations  it  is  said  : 
"  Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and 
all  the  host  of  them."  As  much  as  to  say,  "The 
foregoing  is  an  account  of  the  commencement,  pro- 
gress, and  completion,  of  the  creation  of  the  heavens, 


92  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

the  earth,  and  all  creatures,  of  course  including  man. 
For  if  the  heavens  and  earth  were  not  created  within 
the  six  days,  no  satisfactory  meaning  is  to  be  deduced 
from  this  passage  considered  as  connected  with,  and  as 
the  conclusion  of,  the  foregoing  narrative.  If  it  is 
supposed  that  the  heavens  as  well  as  the  earth  were 
created  at  an  indefinitely  remote  period  prior  to  the  six 
days,  and  that  the  above  passage  asserts  that  they 
\rexe  finished  in  the  same  sense  as  the  geologists  sup- 
pose the  earth  to  have  been  finished  and  fitted  up, 
then  it  must  be  inferred  that  the  celestial  orbs  were  at 
their  creation  imperfect  like  the  earth,  and  equally 
needed,  after  an  interval  of  incalculable  duration,  to  be 
finished  and  fitted  for  the  reception  of  their  inhabit- 
ants. For  it  is  made  certain  by  this  passage,  that  the 
finishing  of  the  heavens  and  earth,  and  all  the  host  of 
them,  took  place  in  the  six  days. 

Again,  in  Gfen.  i.  16-19,  it  is  said  that,  G-od  made 
two  great  lights  ;  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  stars  also  ; 
and  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven.  If 
this  does  not  mean  that  he  had  made  them  at  that 
epoch,  and  on  the  fourth  day  assigned  to  them  their 
office  of  reflecting  the  light  created  on  the  first  day, 
then  the  finishing  of  them  asserted  at  the  close  of  the 
narrative,  must  have  included  something  similar  to 
what  the  geologists  mean  by  fitting  up  the  earth,  and 
they  must,  therefore,  have  been  previously  in  a  state 


SCRIPTURE   TESTIMONY.  93 

of  chaotic  ruin,  "  without  order,  life,  or  light."  And 
if  they  were  without  light,  so  must  the  earth  have 
been,  and  consequently  without  life  also ;  for  the 
origin  and  production  of  light  is  expressly  assigned  to 
the  first  of  the  six  days.  Is  there,  then,  any  manifes- 
tation of  the  wisdom  and  goodness,  or  of  any  of  the 
purposes  or  perfections  of  the  Creator,  in  such  a  crea- 
tion of  the  heavens  and  earth  countless  ages  before 
they  were  finished,  and  rendered  habitable — any  such 
manifestation  that  angels  and  men  should  be  specially 
called  on  to  praise  him  for  it ;  or  such  as  to  be  with 
propriety  alleged  as  the  ground  of  his  prerogatives  and 
government  over  them  ?  Had  they,  or  have  they,  any  real 
or  conceivable  relation  to  the  supposed  creation  or  its 
epoch  ?  Was  there  any  such  connection  between  the 
dark  and  chaotic  state  of  the  earth  during  the  sup- 
posed incalculable  period,  and  that  finishing  of  it, 
which  rendered  it  habitable,  as  to  extend  man's 
responsibility  back  to  the  earlier  epoch,  and  require 
him  to  include  it  in  his  songs  and  doxologies  of  praise  ? 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Notice  of  some  ef  the  Physical  Difficulties  of  the  Geologic  Theory — 
The  probable  quantity  of  matter  in  the  Sedimentary  Formations 
computed  in  cubic  miles  ;  compared  with  the  quantity  of  unstratified 
rock  existing  above  the  sea  level,  and  with  the  area  of  the  existing 
oceans — The  production  of  both  Marine  and  Terrestrial  Plants  and 
Animals,  and  the  Diffusion  and  Fossilization  of  them  in  the  Sedimen- 
tary Strata,  according  to  the  Geologic  theory,  incredible  and  impos- 
sible. 

Here  those  who  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  might  be  content  to  rest,  assured  that  no 
interpretation  of  the  facts  of  geology  or  inferences  from 
them,  in  conflict  with  the  statements  of  revelation,  can 
be  entitled  to  any  consideration.  But  many  good  men, 
teachers  of  revealed  religion,  and  others,  are  prepos- 
sessed with  the  impression  that  the  geological  theory, 
respecting  the  antiquity  of  the  earth,  is  entitled  to 
regard  as  a  deduction  or  demonstration  of  science,  and 
as  such  is  in  conflict  with  the  language  of  Scripture. 
This,  however,  is  a  mistake.  That  which  constitutes 
or  belongs  to  geology  as  a  science,  has  properly  nothing 


LIMITED  PROVINCE  OF  SCIENCE.  95 

whatever,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  do  with  the  question 
at  issue.  It  has  to  do  only  with  physical  phenomena, 
their  natural  laws,  and  their  physical  relations  and 
connections.  To  determine  the  Epoch  of  Creation  is 
as  truly  out  of  its  province  as  it  is  to  create  a  world. 
It  cannot  demonstrate,  nor  even  render  it  probable, 
that  the  earth  ever  was  created.  The  theory  of  its 
remote  antiquity  is  no  part  of  the  science,  but  is  a  dis- 
creditable appendage  to  it.  The  theory  is  merely  an 
inference,  a  supposition,  a  conjecture,  derived  from  the 
construction  which  the  geologist  puts  upon  the  facts  of 
the  science,  the  phenomena  which  he  observes,  and 
the  mode  in  which  he  conceives  them  to  have  been 
produced  by  the  ordinary  and  exclusive  operation  of 
natural  causes.  Should  he  modify  his  inference  by 
admitting  that  a  supernatural  cause  may  have  been 
interposed  to  produce  those  facts,  he  would  be  forced 
to  conclude  that  geology  could  determine  nothing  upon 
the  subject.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to  prove,  or  to 
exhibit  any  facts  or  phenomena  from  which  it  can  be 
inferred  that  supernatural  interpositions  have  not 
taken  place,  or  that  there  have  not  been  adequate 
reasons  and  occasions  for  them.  And  it  is  only  by 
vaulting  over  the  boundaries  of  Geological  Science, 
into  the  province  of  revelation,  moral  government,  and 
final  causes,  and  assuming  that  no  supernatural  inter- 
positions have  occurred,  that  he  makes  his  inference, 


96  THE   EPOCH   OF    CREATION. 

and  concludes  that  the  earth  must  have  existed  long 
enough  for  natural  causes  to  produce  the  phenomena 
which  he  observes. 

It  may  be  worth  the  while,  therefore,  to  exhibit 
some  of  the  difficulties  which  attend  the  supposition 
that  the  phenomena  of  geology  were  produced  ex- 
clusively by  the  gradual  operation  of  natural  causes. 
In  doing  this  it  may  perhaps  appear  that  more  mira- 
cles are  required  on  that  supposition  than  are  indicated 
in  the  Scriptures,  in  connection  with  the  physical  and 
moral  systems  together. 

It  is  not  intended  to  advance  any  theory  as  to  the 
mode  of  operation  by  which  it  pleased  the  Creator  and 
Ruler  of  the  world  to  produce  the  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  and  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth ; 
but  only  to  show  that  the  mode  specified  by  the 
geologists  is  untenable,  and  to  indicate  that  instead  of 
physical  there  were  moral  reasons  sufficient  to  justify 
the  belief  that  they  were  produced  by  supernatural 
interpositions,  as  there  undeniably  have  been  such 
reasons  for  such  interpositions  in  numerous  instances, 
since  the  period  of  those  changes  by  which  the  sedi- 
mentary deposits  with  their  fossil  remains  were 
formed.  This  is  all  that  the  case  requires.  If  the 
mode  of  operation  is  not  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
geology  cannot  determine  it ;  and  in  relation  either  to 
our  faith  or  practice,  it  is  no  more  essential  to  us  to 


MOKAL  REASONS  OF  PHYSICAL  CHANGES.  97 

know  it,  than  it  is  essentfal  to  us  to  know  the  mode  in 
which  the  Divine  power  will  cause  a  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  or  to  know  the  mode  in  which  any  physical 
effect  is  produced  by  a  Divine  Volition.  It  may  well 
suffice  us  to  know  that  the  Scriptures  set  forth  moral 
reasons  for  the  great  facts  of  sacred  history,  and  declare 
that  those  facts  were  caused  by  the  Moral  Governor 
of  the  world  ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  creation  itself,  the 
deluge,  the  confusion  of  tongues,  the  destruction  of 
Sodom,  the  exodus  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  their 
deliverance,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Egyptians  in  the 
passage  of  the  Red  sea,  their  sustentation  forty  j^ears 
in  the  wilderness,  &c,  &c.  Upon  these  and  the  like 
remarkable  facts  involving,  beyond  a  question,  super- 
natural interpositions,  all  the  details  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history  absolutely  depend.  If  they  did  not 
occur,  the  whole  history  must  be  a  fable.  If  they  did 
occur,  then  miracles  were  wrought,  and  wrought  for 
the  reasons  assigned  for  their  occurrence,  whether  the 
mode  in  which  the  Divine  power  was  exercised  in 
working  them  is  revealed  or  not,  and  whether  that 
mode  was  or  was  not  in  harmony  with  or  in  opposition 
to  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  And  to  believe  in  the 
Scriptures  is  to  believe  in  those  facts,  and  in  the 
reasons  assigned  for  them,  and  the  power  which  caused 
them,  as  much  as  it  is  to  believe  in  the  doctrines 
which  those  facts  attest  concerning  the  Deity,  the 
5 


98  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

prerogatives,  the  moral  government,  the  providence, 
the  holiness,  justice,  and  goodness,  of  their  author. 
The  facts  occurred  and  were  recorded  purposely  to 
attest  the  doctrines ;  they  occurred  under  circum- 
stances, and  in  such  immediate  connection  with  the 
reasons  assigned  for  them,  and  with  the  doctrines  they 
were  designed  to  enforce,  as  to  have  the  effect  of  the 
most  signal  attestations  ;  and  as  such,  the  knowledge 
of  many  of  them  was  extended  over  the  earth,  and  has 
been  perpetuated  in  the  memories,  the  monuments,  the 
languages,  and  the  annals  of  the  nations. 

To  deny,  explain  away,  or  divest  these  facts  of  their 
supernatural  character,  is  to  deny  that  the  doctrines 
were  attested  by  them,  and  to  that  extent,  at  least,  to 
deny  the  doctrines  themselves,  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  record  of  them.  Their  importance  and  their  credi- 
bility both  depend  wholly  on  their  being  supernatural 
— the  immediate  effect  of  the  power  of  God,  exerted 
for  special  and  declared  purposes.  If  they  were  not 
supernatural  then  they  did  not  prove  or  attest  any 
Divine  truth  or  doctrine  ;  and  can  be  regarded  only  as 
stupendous  fictions  or  childish  hyperboles. 

With  these  considerations  in  view,  the  reader  will 
be  prepared  to  appreciate  the  physical  difficulties 
which  attend  the  geological  theory  of  creation. 
Before  specifying  these,  however,  it  must  be  observed, 
that  the  geologists  suppose  the  earth  in  its  earliest  and 


GEOLOGIC   THEORIES   OF   CHANGES,  99 

most  imperfect  state,  to  have  exhibited  on  its  surface 
no  other  substance  but  unstratified  rock,  which,  unless 
it  was  originally  in  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity,  arid 
became  solid  by  being  cooled,  is  deemed  to  have 
undergone  no  change. 

The  surface  of  this  primitive  rock  is  supposed  to 
have  presented  great  inequalities  of  altitude  and 
depression  ;  the  elevated  portions  affording  materials, 
and  the  valleys  space,  for  the  sedimentary  deposits  in 
which  the  fossil  remains  of  plants  and  animals  are 
now  discovered.  The  higher  portions  of  the  primitive 
rock,  being  exposed  to  the  influence  of  the  atmosphere 
and  of  water,  are  supposed  to  have  been  gradually 
worn  away  by  the  operation  of  these  elements,  and  the 
abraded  particles  to  have  been  washed  down  to  the 
lower  levels  of  the  primitive  surface,  and  thus  gradu- 
ally to  have  formed  a  stratum  or  layer  of  sediment. 
In  process  of  time  the  first  or  lower  stratum  was 
covered  by  a  second,  consisting  of  materials  geologi- 
cally different  from  the  first,  as  limestone  differs  from 
slate  or  sandstone  ;  and  that  in  turn  was  covered  by  a 
third,  differing  in  like  manner  from  the  second  ;  and 
so  on  through  incalculable  periods  of  duration,  till  the 
succession  of  layers,  of  which  there  aro  about  thirty, 
attained  a  height  of  ten  miles  or  more,  from  the  foun- 
dation. 

This  process,    no  doubt,  would  require  a  lapse  of 


100  THE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

inconceivable  rounds  of  time,  or  rather  of  infinite  dura- 
tion, on  the  supposition  that  the  disintegrating  agents, 
air  and  water,  acted  with  no  more  force  on  the  solid 
granite,  than  they  have  been  observed  to  act  during 
the  period  of  secular  history,  or  for  the  last  3000 
years.  But  they  are  not  and  cannot  consistently  be, 
by  the  geologists,  supposed  ever  to  have  acted  with 
any  more  force  or  rapidity  than  at  present.  To  sup- 
pose that  they  had,  would  be  to  depart  from  the  rule 
of  scientific  induction,  and  introduce  a  higher  and  more 
powerful  cause  than  was  within  their  observation. 
The  law  of  those  agents  in  respect  to  the  energy  of 
their  operation  in  wearing  away  primitive  rocks,  is 
deduced  from  the  rate  at  which  they  are  now  observed 
to  produce  effects  of  that  kind  ;  and  there  is  nothing 
in  their  nature  to  require,  suggest,  or  admit  the  infer- 
ence, that  they  were  ever  more  powerful  or  effective 
than  at  present,  any  more  than  there  is  in  the  nature 
of  gravitation  anything  to  justify  the  conclusion  that 
it  once  had  more  potency  and  effect  than  now.  On  the 
contrary,  the  wearing  down  of  the  rock  and  formation 
of  the  sedimentary  deposits  are  supposed  to  have  been 
accomplished  by  a  process  as  slow  as  that  by  which 
the  like  operation  is  now  going  on.  Even  with  respect 
to  volcanic  action,  geological  writers  of  the  greatest 
authority  allege  that  there  is  no  ground  to  conclude 
that  volcanoes  were  ever  more  frequent  or  more  power- 


MIRACULOUS   AGENCY   EXCLUDED.  101 

ful  than  at  present ;  and  with  respect  to  deluges,  that 
while  from  their  occurrence  within  the  period  of  his- 
tory we  may  infer  that  earlier  ones  occurred,  we  have 
no  right  to  infer  that  the  earlier  ones  were  of  any 
greater  extent  than  the  recent,  of  which  history  in- 
forms us. 

Besides,  if  it  be  supposed  that  those  causes  ever 
operated  more  rapidly  than  at  present,  who  can  tell 
how  much  more  rapidly  ?  Was  it  a  thousand  times, 
or  a  million  ?  or  myriads  of  millions  ?  Geology  can- 
not tell  ;  and  therefore  cannot  decide  that  the  effects 
were  not  produced  in  a  brief,  or  comparatively  brief 
period  ;  in  the  1600  years  which  preceded  the  deluge  ; 
in  the  year  of  the  deluge  ;  or  in  the  next  succeeding 
1500  years  which  elapsed  before  the  period  of  history 
commenced  ? 

To  suppose  a  more  rapid  operation  of  those  causes 
ages  ago,  than  at  present,  is  to  substitute  conjecture 
in  place  of  the  rule  of  scientific  induction  from  known 
facts ;  and  if  the  geologist  infers  from  the  almost 
imperceptible  action  of  those  causes  now  that  the 
effects  which  he  considers  them  adapted  and  designed 
to  operate,  were  never  more  rapidly  produced  than  at 
present,  he  in  so  doing  gratuitously  assumes  that  no 
supernatural  cause  was  ever  interposed  to  hasten 
them.  But  such  an  assumption  is  not  Science.  It  is 
mere  conjecture.     Greology  affords  no  means  of  proving 


102  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

or  rendering  it  probable  that  supernatural  interposi- 
tions have  not  taken  place.  The  utmost  it  can  do  in 
this  relation  is  to  show  that  the  operation  of  natural 
causes  is  all  but  imperceptibly  slow ;  so  slow,  indeed, 
as  to  render  the  inference  that  the  vast  masses  of 
sedimentary  matter  were  ever  produced  by  them,  not 
merely  improbable  and  incredible,  but  impossible. 

The  question  has  no  reference  to  the  movement  by 
ocean  and  river  currents  of  the  previously  pulverized 
sediment  with  which  they  come  in  contact,  but  only 
to  the  operation  by  which  the  quantity  of  sediment  is 
increased  as  well  as  moved  ;  the  operation  by  which 
the  materials  of  all  sediment  are  detached  and  floated 
away  from  the  primitive  rocks.  This  is  all  that  the 
question  does  or  can  include.  For  the  mere  movement 
of  soils  from  one  locality  to  another  does  not  augment 
the  total  quantity  of  sedimentary  matter  ;  and  accord- 
ing to  the  theory  there  was  primitive  rock  but  no  soil 
or  other  sedimentary  matter  when  the  process  com- 
menced. And  this  must  have  been  the  case  if  the 
theory  in  respect  to  fossil  remains  is  true  ;  for  they  are 
found  very  far  down  in  the  sedimentary  strata,  where 
according  to  the  theory  they  must  have  been  buried  up 
by  the  materials  which  were  gradually  detached  and 
washed  down  from  the  primitive  rocks. 

Now  in  order  to  judge  whether  it  is  in  itself  credible 
or  possible,  or  whether  without  a  miraculous  influence 


QUANTITY   OF   SEDIMENTARY   MATTER.  103 

upon  our  minds,  or  a  hallucination  equal  to  that  which 
would  be  required  to  make  us  believe  the  doctrine  of 
the  Metempsychosis,  we  can  be  brought  to  any  degree 
of  conviction,  that  all  the  sedimentary  matter  of  the 
globe  has  been  detached  from  primitive  rocks,  by  the 
indescribably  slow  operation  of  natural  causes,  disposed, 
in  the  layers,  and  pervaded  by  the  fossil  remains  now 
found  in  it ;  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  area  occupied 
by  the  sedimentary  formations  is  of  vast  extent.  The 
superficial  area  of  the  globe  is  equal  to  about  148  mil. 
lions  of  square  miles  ;  that  of  the  dry  land,  or  portions 
above  the  sea  level,  to  40  millions.  Of  this  probably 
not  less  than  four  fifths,  or  32  millions  of  square 
miles,  are  of  sedimentary  formation  ;  and  if  that  forma- 
tion, as  geologists  of  authority  estimate,  extends  to  the 
depth  of  ten  miles,  or  more,  the  aggregate  would  be 
equal  to  320  millions  of  cubic  miles. 

On  the  other  hand  the  superficial  area  now  occupied 
by  primitive  rock,  supposed  not  to  exceed  eight  mil- 
lions of  square  miles  (and  more  probably  far  less  than 
that),  cannot,  it  is  presumed,  be  estimated  to  be  on  an 
average  more  than  one  mile  in  height  above  the  gene- 
ral level  of  the  adjacent  sedimentary  surface.  For 
although  the  loftiest  summits  of  several  mountain 
ranges  rise  more  than  one  mile  and  some  as  high  as 
five  miles,  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  far  greatest 
portion  of  the  granitic  surfaces  are  much  less  than  half 


104  THE   EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

a  mile  in  height.  Supposing  the  general  average  to  be 
one  mile  in  height,  the  result  would  be  eight  millions 
of  cubic  miles  of  granite  above  the  level  of  the  sedi- 
mentary deposits  ;  and  the  quantity  of  material  would 
be  equal  to  one-fortieth  part  of  the  quantity  contained 
in  those  deposits. 

Now  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  thirty -two  millions 
of  square  miles  now  occupied  by  the  sedimentary 
masses,  could  not,  at  the  commencement  of  their 
formation,  nor  at  any  period  since,  have  furnished  any 
of  the  sediment  deposited  there.  For  when  the  lower 
portion  of  the  first  layer  of  sediment  was  deposited, 
the  same  primitive  rock  which  it  now  lies  on  must  have 
been  under  it.  And  even  if  the  now  underlying  rock 
yielded  at  first  a  portion  of  abraded  particles,  it  would, 
after  being  covered  with  such  particles  to  the  depth  of 
a  few  inches,  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  action  of  the 
agents  of  abrasion,  and  could  yield  no  more.  If  then 
the  320  millions  of  cubic  miles  of  sediment  were  pro- 
duced by  the  wearing  down  of  primitive  rocks,  either 
by  the  action  of  air  and  water,  or  by  any  other  cause, 
those  rocks,  it  is  manifest,  must  have  existed,  not 
within,  but  out  of  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the  area 
over  which  the  sediment  was  floated,  and  where  it 
now  remains.  Those  primitive  rooks,  if  they  existed 
anywhere,  must  have  existed  on  the  top  of  the  granitic 
rocks  which  now  rise  above  the  general  level  of  the 


QUANTITY   OF   SEDIMENTARY   MATTER.  105 

sedimentary  surfaces.  They  must  have  been  piled  up 
on  the  area  of  eight  millions  of  square  miles,  assigned 
above  to  the  existing  granite  surface  ;  and  must  have 
exhibited  an  average  height  of  forty  miles  ;  or  if  the 
most  elevated  summits  were  as  much  higher  than  the 
general  average  as  the  highest  summits  now  are, 
there  must  have  been  granite  mountains  200  miles  in 
height,  an  altitude  at  which  probably  neither  air  nor 
water  would  ever  wear  them  down. 

It  is  not  perceived  how  these  conclusions  can  be 
avoided.  They  are  not  to  be  relieved  by  supposing 
that  a  process  of  abrasion  went  on  for  a  long  time  over 
the  whole  area  of  forty  millions  of  square  miles,  till  a 
vast  mass  of  sedimentary  matter  was  produced  from 
rocks  within  the  area  of  thirty-two  millions,  before  it 
was  washed  down  to  its  destined  bed.  For  if  not 
washed  down  as  fast  as  produced,  it  would  stop  the 
process  of  abrasion  as  effectually  on  the  surface  of  the 
rock  from  which  it  was  disengaged,  as  on  the  same  at 
a  lower  level  to  which  it  might  be  floated  down. 
And  if  floated  down  to  lower  levels  as  fast  as  it  was 
disengaged,  two  difficulties  would  present  themselves 
— 1.  The  quantity  of  such  rock  rising  above  the 
lowest  level  would  be  exhausted  or  covered  up  long 
before  the  deposits  would  rise  to  a  height  of  ten  miles, 
so  that  there  would  be  a  vast  deficiency  of  materials, 

or  we  must  suppose  such  rocks  to  have  had  an  eleva- 

5* 


106  THE   EPOCH  OF   CREATION. 

tion  far  greater  than  any  of  the  existing  primitive 
rocks,  and  to  have  occupied  the  whole  or  so  much  of 
the  area  as  to  preclude  such  extended  and  continuous 
sedimentary  formations  as  now  exist. 

2.  A  difficulty  would  present  itself  in  respect  to  a 
supply  of  the  plants  and  animals  terrestrial  and 
marine,  the  fossilized  remains  of  which  are  discovered 
in  the  lower  sedimentary  strata,  as  well  as  in  those 
above.  For  where  during  the  ages  of  such  a  process 
could  plants  and  animals  of  both  or  indeed  of  either 
of  those  classes  exist,  so  as  to  be  supplied  at  the 
places  of  inhumation  ?  Both  the  theory  under  consi- 
deration, and  the  facts  of  geology  imply  that  the  sedi- 
mentary deposits,  by  whatever  causes  effected,  were 
in  progress  simultaneously,  wherever  they  now  exist, 
and  that  the  presence  of  water  was  an  indispensable 
condition  of  their  progress.  There  must  have  been 
water  to  convey  the  sedimentary  matter  down  from 
higher  levels,  and  when  floated  down,  it  was  evidently 
precipitated  to  its  bed,  in  water.  This  would  neces- 
sarily preclude  the  contemporaneous  existence  of  ter- 
restrial plants  and  animals  ;  and  if  there  was  water 
enough  to  supply  aquatic  plants  and  animals,  how 
could  it  at  the  same  time  supply  both  those  of  salt  and 
those  of  fresh  water  ? 

The  sedimentary  formations  are  described  by  the 
geologists  as  consisting  of  not  less  than  thirty,  "  weli 


DIFFICULTIES    OF   THE    GEOLOGIC    THEORY.  107 

defined  beds,  layers,  or  strata,  of  different  mineral 
masses,  masses  differing  in  mineral  composition,  lying 
upon  each  other,"  originally  like  the  leaves  of  a  book, 
or  a  pile  of  wafers  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  subse- 
quently raised  and  tilted  wherever  their  position  has 
been  altered,  by  a  force  from  beneath.  "  They  are 
placed  one  over  the  other,  in  a  sure  and  known  order 
of  succession."  Though  in  every  locality  some  one  or 
more  out  of  the  whole  number  of  layers  may  be  want- 
ing, "  the  order  of  position  is  never  violated." — Dr. 
Pye  Smith  and  others.  These  well  established  facts 
are,  in  relation  to  the  geological  theory  of  formation, 
of  great  significance.  The  theory  assumes  that  there 
were  above  the  lower  level  of  the  first  horizontal  layer, 
primitive  rocks  enough  to  supply  the  entire  mass  of 
sedimentary  matter,  and  of  course  if  the  first  layer  was 
universally  horizontal  in  its  position,  that  entire  mass 
must  have  existed  elsewhere  than  over  the  area  of  the 
first  sedimentary  deposit.  That  first  layer  being 
everywhere  the  same,  and  diverse  in  mineral  compo- 
sition from  the  layer  above  it,  must  be  supposed  to 
have  been  in  progress  of  formation  universally  at  the 
same  time.  For  if  it  was  not,  then,  since  the  surface 
of  the  rock  from  which  all  the  sedimentary  matter 
was  to  be  derived,  was,  wherever  it  existed,  univer- 
sally exposed  to  the  agents  of  disintegration,  the  opera- 
tion of  those  agents  must,  in  relation  to  some  localities, 


108  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

have  been  miraculously  suspended,  while  it  went  on 
wherever  the  first  layer  was  in  progress.     For  these 
physical   agents   or    causes  could  not  suspend  them- 
selves, nor  choose  where  to  operate.    It  is  their  nature, 
their  inherent  and  invariable  law,  to  operate  whenever 
and  wherever  they  come  in  contact  with  the  physical 
subject  upon   which  it   is  their  nature  to  have  any 
influence.      And  if  those  primitive  rocks  existed,  their 
entire  surface  must  have  been  exposed  to  those  agents, 
for   by  the  theory  no  portion  of  the   globe  originally 
exhibited  any  other   solid  surface  but  primitive  rock, 
and  the  operation  of  those  agents  on  that  surface  must 
have   been   everywhere   the  same ;    it  could   not  be 
wholly  or  partially  suspended  without  a  miracle. 

Now  if  all  the  solid  part  of  the  globe  which  is  not 
occupied  by  the  sedimentary  deposits  was  granite,  and 
was  worn  down  to  supply  the  materials  of  those 
deposits  ;  if  the  wearing  down  and  deposition  were 
universally  in  progress  at  the  same  time,  if  the  mate- 
rials detached  from  the  rock  were  floated  to  the  scene 
of  their  final  destination,  and  there  suspended  in  water, 
diffused  over  the  whole  area,  and  quickly  precipitated 
to  the  bottom,  so  as  to  form  in  course  of  time  the  first 
layer,  and  subsequently  the  other  layers  in  their  due 
order  and  succession,  then,  beyond  all  question,  there 
was  during  that  process  no  place  on  the  earth  for  the 
production  of  plants  and  animals  to  be  buried  up.     To 


DIFFICULTIES   OF  THE   GEOLOGIC   THEORY.  109 

suppose  that  there  was,  is  to  assume  that  the  physical 
causes  of  disintegration  were  not  universally  in  opera- 
tion, but  were  suspended,  which  required  a  miracle. 
If  they  were  not  suspended,  if  they  continued  to  work 
their  effects  upon  the  rock,  what  became  of  the 
detritus  ?  Was  the  washing  down  suspended  also, 
by  another  miracle  ?  If  so,  and  the  materials,  after 
being  disengaged  by  air  and  water,  or  by  air  alone, 
were  left  on  the  rock  and  there  accumulated  till  a  soil 
was  formed  for  the  growth  and  support  of  plants  and 
animals  to  be  subsequently  transported  to  another 
scene  and  buried  up,  that  course  of  things  would  defeat 
itself;  for  a  slight  accumulation  of  sedimentary  matter 
on  the  elevated  rock,  as  well  as  on  that  beneath  the 
sedimentary  beds,  would  prevent  the  abrading  agents 
from  coming  in  contact  with  the  rock  to  be  worn 
down,  and  wholly  stop  the  supply  of  materials  for 
covering  up  the  plants  and  animals,  or  for  going  on 
with  the  sedimentary  formation  without  them. 

There  is  no  alternative  to  this  course,  but  that  of 
allowing  more  time  and  introducing  more  miracles. 
For  if  the  washing  down  of  sedimentary  matter  was 
suspended  till  a  soil  was  formed  for  plants  and  animals, 
a  miracle  must  occur  to  bring  them  into  existence  at 
the  proper  time  ;  when  they  were  to  be  buried  up,  a 
miracle  or  something  like  it  must  occur  to  renew  the 
floating  down  of  the  soil,  lay  the  primitive  rock  bare 


110  THE   EPOCH   OF   CKEATION. 

again,  and  transport  the  plants  and  animals  to  the 
place  of  burial.  And  when  this  was  accomplished, 
the  washing  down  must  be  again  suspended,  and  a 
new  soil  being  formed,  a  new  creation  of  plants  and 
animals  must  take  place.  In  this  way  only  can  the 
theory  be  sustained,  and  accordingly  the  geologists  tell 
us  of  new  creations  and  centres  of  creation  as  often  as 
the  exigencies  of  their  theory  require  them. 

Nor  can  this  theory  be  relieved  of  its  impossible  con- 
ditions or  its  dependence  on  miracles  by  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  sedimentary  masses  were  formed  on  the 
bed  of  the  seas,  and  subsequently  elevated  above  their 
surface.  It  would  be  equally  true  upon  that  as  upon 
the  former  suppositions,  that  the  primitive  rock  which 
was  to  furnish  the  whole  quantity  of  sedimentary 
matter,  must  have  existed  elsewhere  than  within  the 
area  occupied  by  it  after  the  process  of  deposition  in 
strata  or  layers  ;  and  wherever  those  rocks  existed 
above  the  sea  level,  the  process  of  wearing  them  down 
and  floating  the  detached  sediment  to  the  sea,  would 
equally  preclude  the  growth  of  plants  and  animals  to 
be  inhumed. 

Moreover,  if  the  seas  were  deep  enough  to  admit  of 
their  receiving  sediment  to  the  height  of  ten  miles, 
the  intrusion  of  such  a  mass  would  necessarily  dis- 
place an  equal  bulk  of  water,  and  thereby  raise  the 
general  surface,  or  overflow  all  but  the  most  elevated 


DIFFICULTIES    OF   THE   GEOLOGIC   THEORY.  Ill 

portions  of  the  earth's  surface  not  previously  sub- 
merged. But  waiving  all  this,  is  it  not  inconceivable 
and  impossible  without  a  miracle,  that  the  sediment 
detached  from  primitive  rocks  and  washed  down  by 
river  currents,  should  by  the  force  of  those  currents  or 
by  any  other  means,  be  diffused  and  precipitated 
equally  over  the  areas  covered  by  the  seas  ?  Are 
there  currents  in  the  seas  extending  in  all  directions 
from  the  mouths  of  rivers  ?  Currents  of  such  extent 
and  force,  and  in  such  variety  as  to  transport  materials 
coarse  and  fine,  ponderous  and  light,  thousands  of 
miles,  and  distribute  in  different  localities  such  only 
as  were  homogeneous,  and  to  transport  and  diffuse  also 
the  plants  and  animals  whose  fossilized  remains  are 
now  discovered  ?  Surely  the  miracles  of  Scripture  are 
nothing,  compared  to  those  which  are  necessary  to  this 
hypothesis.  For  supposing  that  the  slow  operation  of 
natural  causes  might,  during  the  lapse  of  an  infinite 
succession  of  ages,  wear  down  a  quantity  of  primitive 
rocks  equal  in  bulk  to  the  sedimentary  formations,  it 
is  demonstrable  that  there  was  not  on  the  globe  room 
for  that  quantity  of  rocks  to  exist,  out  of  the  space 
occupied  by  those  formations,  and  the  space  occupied 
by  the  waters  of  the  ocean  ;  and  it  is  equally  plain 
that  if  such  a  process  was  carried  on  according  to  the 
uniform  law  of  those  causes,  and  by  means  of  water  as 
the  principal  of  them,  the  growth  of  plants  and  animals 


112  THE   EPOCH   OP   CREATION. 

must  have  been  precluded  till  those  formations  were 
completed,  so  that  their  remains  could  not  possibly  be 
distributed  and  fossilized  in  the  respective  strata. 

Whether  the  theory  of  the  geologists,  as  specified 
above,  is  in  all  its  particulars  held  and  agreed  to  by 
all  of  them,  or  not,  is  in  no  degree  important.  For 
while  they  may  differ  among  themselves  in  regard  to 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  which  by  some  is  deemed  to 
have  been  exploded  by  the  telescopes  of  Lord  Rosse, 
but  which,  being  mere  conjecture,  and  never  having 
had  a  particle  of  evidence,  science,  or  scientific  induc- 
tion to  support  it,  needed  no  explosion  ;  and  while_ 
they  may  differ  as  to  the  equally  gratuitous  hypothesis 
of  the  earth  having  been  originally  in  a  melted  state,  a 
state  of  "  igneous  fluidity  :"  or  as  to  the  question 
whether  or  not  the  fossil  remains  in  the  lowest  fossil- 
iferous  stratum  are  those  only  of  the  most  imperfect 
specimens  of  organic  developments,  and  those  of  the 
next  and  of  the  superior  strata  in  their  order,  of  more 
perfect  specimens  ;  or  whether  they  agree  or  differ  as 
to  any  other  details  of  their  unscriptural  and  incredible 
system  ;  they  one  and  all  agree  in  those  assumptions, 
inferences,  and  dogmas,  upon  which  their  system,  as 
such,  must  stand  or  fall.  They  one  and  all  agree  in 
supposing  that  the  sedimentary  masses  were  formed 
by  the  ordinary  gradual  operation  of  physical  causes  ; 
that  the  sediment  was  provided  by  the  wearing  down 


GEOLOGIC  THEORY  MERE  CONJECTURE.      113 

of  unstratified  rock  ;  that  there  have  been  successive 
creations  of  animal  and  vegetable  races ;  that  the 
fossil  remains  of  plants  and  animals  were  imbedded  in 
the  sediment  as  it  gradually  washed  down ;  that  this 
gradual,  and  all  but  imperceptibly  slow  process,  must 
have  continued  through  infinite,  or  all  but  infinite 
periods  of  duration  ;  and  therefore  that  the  earth  must 
have  existed,  indefinitely  earlier  than  the  "  six  days" 
of  the  Mosaic  narrative.  This  last  particular,  which 
is  the  top  stone  of  their  theory,  is  their  inference  from 
the  preceding  assumptions. 

The  theory  is  mere  matter  of  conjecture.  The 
notion  that  the  solid  surface  of  the  globe  was  at  first 
all  rock,  is  mere  conjecture.  Geology  can  furnish  no 
evidence  whatever  that  any  portion  of  the  surface  was 
at  first  rock  of  any  kind.  It  cannot  show  that  all  the 
primitive  rock  which  now  appears,  or  ever  has  appear- 
ed, has  not  been  raised  up  from  beneath  the  general 
level,  since  the  operation  of  geological  changes  and  of 
sedimentary  formations  commenced.  On  the  contrary, 
the  notorious  facts  that  sedimentary  rocks  and  fossil 
remains  are  found  in  different  countries  on  the  sum- 
mits of  the  most  elevated  mountains,  where,  perpetual 
congelation  has  preserved  them  from  abrasion ;  and 
that  the  granite  surface  of  Sweden  is  reported  to  be 
gradually  rising  at  the  present  time,  might  rather 
justify   the  conclusion   that  all  the   primitive    rocks 


114  THE   EPOCH   OF   CKEATION. 

have  in  like  manner  been  raised,  and  within  a  period 
not  more  remote.  If  the  loftiest  masses  have  been  so 
raised,  who  can  say  that  those  of  inferior  height  have 
not  ?  It  may  give  the  reins  to  speculation,  and  may 
conjecture,  that  the  earth  was  formed  by  the  operation 
of  mechanical  and  chemical  forces,  of  what  is  called 
nebular  matter  ;  but  can  offer  no  semblance  of  evi- 
dence that  such  was  its  origin ;  that  it  was  at  first  in 
a  state  of  igneous  fluidity,  and  that  the  crust  when  it 
cooled  was  granite  ;  but  it  can  offer  nothing  of  the 
nature  of  proof  to  that  effect.  On  the  contrary,  the 
facts  that  melted  matter  thrown  up  from  below  the 
crust  by  volcanic  action  is  not  granite  when  it  cools, 
and  lhat  lava  cannot  be  made  of  granite  without  other 
ingredients,  might  at  least  suggest  the  probability 
that  the  granite  crust  was  never  in  a  melted  state. 

It  may  conjecture  that  the  plants  and  animals 
which  are  fossilized  were  provided  somewhere,  but 
cannot  tell  where  ;  that  they  were  transported  some- 
how to  their  destined  places,  but  cannot  tell  how  ; 
that  being  transported  they  were  by  some  means  kept 
in  a  perfect  state  without  injury  to  their  most  fragile 
parts  and  delicate  tissues,  long  enough  for  the  accumu- 
lation of  sedimentary  matter  by  the  action  of  natural 
causes  to  bury  and  fossilize  them,  but  cannot  show  by 
what  means. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Notices  of  some  portions  of  the  Chapter  "  On  the  bearing  of  Final 
C  auses  on  Geologic  History,"  in  the  "  Foot-prints  of  the  Creator,'' 
by  Hugh  Miller — His  inference  of  successive  creations  from  the 
relative  proportion  of  Brain  to  the  Spinal  Cord  in  different  races  of 
Animals — His  version  of  the  Fourth  Commandment. 

The  sagacious  author  of  the  work  entitled  "  Foot- 
prints of  the  Creator,"  has  constructed  an  argument 
favorable  to  the  hypothesis  that  man  was  brought 
forward  upon  the  scene  of  terrestrial  things  long  after 
the  creation  and  extinction  of  the  inferior  races  whose 
remains  are  entombed  in  the  nether  rocks  ;  founded 
upon  the  notion  that  "  the  large  reasoning  brain"  by 
which  he  is  distinguished,  "  would  have  been  wholly 
out  of  place  in  the  earlier  ages;"  namely,  the  ages 
during  which  those  inferior  races  had  their  career,  and 
were  fossilized.  For  he  supposes  that  during  those 
ages  this  planet  was  but  partially  consolidated,  and 
was  the  scene  of  convulsions  and  earthquakes  which 
would  have  frightened  man  and  dethroned  his  reason, 


116  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

but  which  might  have  been  endured  by  "  animals  of 
a  limited  range  of  instinct."  "  Fishes  and  reptiles," 
he  observes,  "  were  the  proper  inhabitants  of  our 
planet  during  the  ages  of  the  earth-tempests ;  and 
when  under  the  operation  of  the  chemical  laws  these 
had  become  less  frequent  and  terrible,  the  higher 
mammals  were  introduced.  That  prolonged  ages  of 
these  tempests  did  exist,  and  that  they  gradually  set- 
tled down,  until  the  state  of  things  became  at  length 
comparatively  fixed  and  stable,  few  geologists  will 
be  disposed  to  deny."  He  then  cites  the  upheaved 
and  distorted  condition  of  various  rocks  as  evidence 
that  they  were  forced  into  that  condition  by  move- 
ments of  terrific  violence,  at  periods  when  such  vio- 
lence was  common  ;  and  adds  :  "  The  reasoning  brain 
would  have  been  wholly  at  fault  in  a  scene  of  things  in 
which  it  could,  neither  foresee  the  exterminating 
calamity  while  yet  distant,  nor  control  it  when  it  had 
come  ;  and  so  the  reasoning  brain  was  not  produced 
until  the  scene  had  undergone  a  slow  but  thorough 
process  of  change,  during  which,  at  each  progressive 
stage,  it  had  furnished  a  platform  for  higher  and  still 
higher  life.  When  the  coniferse  could  flourish  on  the 
land,  and  fishes  in  the  seas,  fishes  and  cone-bearing 
plants  were  created  ;  when  the  earth  became  a  fit 
habitat  for  reptiles  and  birds,  reptiles  and  birds  were 
produced ;    with    the    dawn     of   a    more   stable  and 


HUGH   MILLER   ON   FINAL    CAUSES.  117 

mature  state  of  things,  the  sagacious  quadruped  was 
ushered  in  ;  and,  last  of  all,  when  man's  house  was 
fully  prepared  for  him — when  the  data  on  which  it  is 
his  nature  to  reason  and  calculate,  had  become  fixed 
and  certain, — the  reasoning,  calculating  brain,  was 
moulded  by  the  creative  finger,  and  man  became  a 
living  soul.  Such  seems  to  be  the  true  reading  of  the 
wondrous  inscription  chiselled  deep  in  the  rocks.  It 
furnishes  us  with  no  clue  by  which  to  unravel  the 
unapproachable  mysteries  of  creation  ;  these  mysteries 
belong  to  the  wondrous  Creator  and  to  Him  only. 
There  is  no  geological  fact  nor  revealed  doctrine  with 
which  this  special  scheme  of  development  does  not 
agree."— P.  303. 

Now  if  there  is  any  legible  inscription  chiselled  in 
the  rocks,  and  if  the  author  has  translated  it  correctly, 
it  reveals  to  us  that  there  were  successive  creations  of 
plants  and  animals  at  widely  distant  intervals.  During 
the  ages  of  this  process,  "  Nature  lay  dead  in  a  waste 
theatre  of  rock,  vapor,  and  sea,  in  which  the  insensate 
laws,  chemical,  mechanical,  and  elastic,  carried  on 
their  blind,  unintelligent  processes." — P.  330.  "  The 
creative  fiat  went  forth,"  and  the  dynasty  of  the  fish 
was  introduced.  Many  ages  subsequently,  "  through 
an  act  of  creation,  the  dynasty  of  the  reptile  began ;" 
and  so  of  the  rest. 

Only  assume  that  the  author's  reading  of  the  inscrip- 


118  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

tion  is  the  true  one,  and  that  there  are  unapproachable 
mysteries  of  creation,  to  which  this  earliest  and  most 
recondite  revelation  affords  no  clue,  and  to  which,  of 
course,  the  Mosaic  narrative  cannot  be  deemed  to  have 
any  reference,  and,  we  may  forsooth,  confess  our 
ignorance  of  the  whole  matter,  and  quietly  take  up 
with  any  geological  hypothesis  which  may  be  proposed. 
If  there  is  anything  of  the  slightest  importance  to  be 
known  by  us  about  the  creation  which  is  not  recorded 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  if  it  concerns  us  to  know  the 
mode  in  which  physical  effects  are  produced  by  the 
Divine  will ;  if  the  inspired  record  of  the  great  moral 
reasons  and  purposes  for  which  the  work  of  creation 
was  accomplished,  will  not  suffice  us  ;  if  the  Scripture 
account  of  the  creation  relates  only  to  the  last  of  a 
long  succession  of  creations  ;  if  no  account  of  these 
earlier  creations  is  vouchsafed  to  us,  except  that 
which  is  inscribed  in  the  rocks,  and  the  meaning  of 
that  can  only  be  guessed  at  and  assumed  as  one  most 
conformable  to  a  preconceived  theory  concerning  the 
rocks  themselves  ;  then  it  would  be  modest  in  us  to  be 
content  with  our  total  ignorance  of  the  matter,  and 
confine  ourselves  within  the  legitimate  and  well- 
known  limits  of  scientific  observation  and  induction. 

It  would  be  very  easy  for  a  geologist  of  half  Mr. 
Miller's  abilities,  half  his  capacity  of  observation,  his 
powers  of  analysis,  and  his  exuberance  of  invention. 


MILLEK — FESTAL   CAUSES.  119 

and  resource,  to  demolish  his  chapter  on  Final  Causes 
without  taking  more  than  half  as  much  liberty  of 
assumption  and  conjecture  as  he  takes.  He  betrays 
indubitable  tokens  of  being  spell-bound,  to  the  extent 
of  infatuation,  by  the  foregone  conclusion  of  his  theory 
concerning  the  high  antiquity  of  the  earth  and  the 
succession  of  animal  and  vegetable  creations.  In  that 
conclusion,  as  a  geological  inference,  he  is  immovably 
fixed  ;  and  if  it  palpably  conflicts  with  the  text  of 
Scripture,  and  the  geological  inscription  on  the  rocks 
is  so  far  illegible  or  equivocal  as  to  require  a  comment, 
he  is  enough  infatuated  to  endeavor  to  support  it  by 
such  hypotheses  and  conjectures  as  his  prolific  imagi- 
nation can  supply.  One  must  conceive  him  to  have 
pored  so  intently  over  geological  phenomena  as  to  have 
become  insensible  to  things  of  another  sort  beyond 
them.  Like  some  men  of  trade,  of  whom  it  is  said 
that  the  penny  which  they  see  is  in  such  close  contact 
with  their  visual  organ,  as  to  eclipse  and  render  them 
insensible  to  the  guinea  beyond.  It  is  quite  possible, 
no  doubt,  for  a  good  man  to  allow  his  mind  to  be  so 
engrossed  by  physical  studies,  so  imbued  with  the 
feelings,  associations,  fellowships,  and  theories,  con- 
nected with  them,  as  to  keep  all  other  things  out  of  it, 
or  allow  them  only  a  subordinate,  occasional,  and 
unimportant  share  of  his  attention.  And  by  degrees 
he  may  come  to  think  that  the  physical  things  which 


120  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

fall  under  his  observation  are  in  themselves  of  the  first 
importance,  and  that  the  puzzling  questions  which  they 
suggest  require  to  be  resolved  in  order  to  clear  up  the 
mysteries    of  the  universe  ;  that  they  present  them- 
selves   at    the   very    outset    of  inquiry,   and  must  be 
accounted  for   by  some  theory,  hypothesis,  or  conjec- 
ture, in  order  to  any  understanding  of  the  nature  of 
things.     And  if  his  studies  are  geological,  and  conduct 
him  down  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  the  foundations, 
foot  prints,  and  first  beginnings  of  the  operations  of 
nature,    he    may  easily  persuade   himself  that  he   is 
there   to   discover   not    merely  the  first  rudiments  of 
things,  but  a  record  and  revelation  of  the  causes  and 
operations  by  which   they  came  to  be  what  they  are, 
and    the    reasons    and    orderly    succession    of    their 
changes.       To  have  found  a  record  which  he  could  not 
decipher,  into  some  hypothesis  which  geology  at  least 
could    not    absolutely    disprove,   would    perplex    and 
humble   him,    and   disrobe   his  science    of  nearly   all 
which  makes  it  the  admiration  of  one  portion  of  the 
world,  and  the  stumbling-block  and  scandal  of  another. 
Had  the  same  good   man,  however,  commenced  his 
course  of  studies  concerning  the  works  of  the  Creator, 
in  another  school  and  in  another  class ;  had  he  com- 
menced  not    with   the   study   of  insensate    laws  and 
blind  unintelligent  processes  ;  but  with  things  which 
are  as  intelligible  and  as  certain  as  are  the  axioms  of 


MILLEK FINAL   CAUSES.  121 

geometry,  things  taught  by  the  Creator  himself,  in 
language  of  his  own  inditing,  of  which  the  laws  are  as 
fixed  and  as  invariable  as  those  of  any  science;  had  he 
begun  by  ascertaining  what  is  thus  taught  concerning 
the  creation,  its  epoch,  its  connections  and  relations 
with  the  moral  purposes,  agencies,  manifestations,  and 
results,  of  the  great  scheme  of  Providence  and  redemp- 
tion ;  had  he  in  tracing  the  progress  of  this  scheme 
noted  the  occurrence  of  supernatural  interpositions, 
and  the  reasons  of  them  and  their  subserviency  to 
moral  ends  ;  and  duly  considered  the  apostasy  of  man, 
the  terrestrial  head  of  his  and  the  inferior  races,  the 
visitation  of  moral  and  physical  judgments  consequent 
thereon,  the  curse  upon  the  earth  itself  on  his  account, 
not  by  the  gradual  operation  of  natural  laws  tending 
to  improve  it,  but  by  the  direct  judicial  agency  of 
Omnipotence,  changing  it  from  its  perfect  paradisiacal 
condition  in  which  it  was  suited  to  be  the  perpetual 
abode  of  man  in  his  perfect,  happy,  unfallen  state,  to 
a  condition  corresponding  to  his  fallen,  degraded, 
miserable  condition  of  guilt,  condemnation,  disease, 
and  death,  and  without  supernatural  interposition,  of 
utter  and  eternal  despair  ;  had  he  traced  this  line  of 
things  down  to  the  removal  of  the  curse,  the  restitu- 
tion of  all  things,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the 
coincident  renovation  of  the  earth  and  re-instatement 

of  it  in  its  original  condition  ;  had  he  taken  this  course 
6 


122  THE   EPOCH   OF   CEEATION. 

of  inquiry,  and  fully  satisfied  and  convinced  himself 
of  what  the    inspired  volume  reveals  concerning  it 
before  he  attempted  to  construe  the  pretended  inscrip 
tion  and   fancied    revelation  of  the  rocks,  he  would 
have  had   something  to  go  by  upon  which  he   could 
place    reliance,    something    to   admonish   him  of  the 
insignificance  of  physical  in  comparison  with  moral 
and   spiritual  things,  something  to  maintain  upon  his 
mind  a  constant  impression  of  the  majesty  and  glory 
of  the  Creator,  of  his  perfections  as  displayed  in  all  his 
works,  of  the  transcendent  moral  purposes  and  ends  of 
his  entire  administration;  something  to  restrain  him 
from  lawless  theorizing  and  conjectural  hypothesis. 

In  the  author's  chapter  above  referred  to,  on  "  The 
Bearing  of  Final  Causes  on  Geologic  History,"  many 
shrewd  and  fine  things  are  said ;  but  so  far  as  it 
attempts  to  explain  anything  which  the  Scriptures 
have  not  explained,  or  advances  explanations  different 
from  those  vouchsafed  in  Scripture,  it  assumes  what 
cannot  be  proved,  exalts  the  rocks  and  their  relics  far 
above  their  proper  place  in  the  great  system  of  things, 
disparages  the  inspired  record,  the  existence  of  which 
is  far  more  matter  of  wonder  than  all  the  physical 
phenomena  of  earth,  and  is  in  short  mere  hypothesis 
and  conjecture.  Let  it  be  judged  of  by  a  further 
notice  of  that  part  of  tho  chapter  from  which  extracts 


RELATIVE   PROPORTION   OF   BRAIN.  123 

are  quoted   above,    and    a   notice  of  another  portion 
which  relates  to  the  fourth  commandment. 

In  the  quoted  extracts  and  their  connections  the 
author  first  assumes,  in  support  of  the  hypothesis,  that 
the  earth  was  originally  in  a  state  incompatible  with 
the  existence  of  any  animal  or  vegetable  life,  and  that 
at  successive  stages  of  improvement  successive  crea- 
tions took  place,  and  corresponding  extirpations  of 
those  which  preceded  to  make  room  for  those  which 
followed  ;  that  as  the  brain  in  fishes  bears  an  average 
proportion  to  the  spinal  cord  of  not  more  than  two  to 
one,  while  the  brain  in  reptiles  bears  an  average  pro- 
portion of  two  and  a  half  to  one,  in  birds  of  three  to 
one,  and  in  mammals  of  four  to  one,  therefore  being 
best  adapted  by  having  the  smallest  modicum  of  brain, 
to  exist  in  the  most  imperfect  state  of  the  earth  com- 
patible with  animal  life,  fish  were  created  first ;  and 
having  run  their  course,  died  out  and  been  buried,  and 
petrified  in  the  sedimentary  rocks  which  now  contain 
their  relics,  gave  place  at  the  next  stage  of  improve- 
ment to  their  more  intelligent  or  more  sensitive,  or  at 
least  larger-brained  successors,  the  reptiles  ;  and  these 
in  like  manner,  after  the  necessary  lapse  of  ages,  gave 
place  to  birds,  and  they  in  turn  to  beasts,  and  they  to 
man,  whose  brain  bears  an  average  proportion  to 
the  spinal  cord  of  twenty-three  to  one.  If  this 
theory  be   true,  there  ought  not  to  be  any  fishes  or 


124  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

reptiles  now  in  the  improved  earth.  Taking  this 
graduated  scale  of  proportionate  quantity  of  brain  as 
the  rule  of  creative  interposition,  corresponding  to  the 
degree  of  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  earth, 
the  author  is  met  by  the  Lamarckian  theory,  that 
"  the  lower  brains  were  developed  into  the  higher  ;" 
which  he  rebukes  by  observing  that  "  all  the  facts  of 
geological  science  are  hostile  to  it,"  and  alleging  that 
fishes  though  created  first,  and  being  lowest  in  the 
proportion  of  brain,  are  in  fact  as  a  class  of  animals 
superior  to  reptiles,  so  that  a  development  of  the  fish 
into  the  reptile  would  be  a  reverse  process,  a  develop- 
ment from  the  more  to  the  less  perfect,  which  could 
never  result  in  quadrupeds  or  man.  But  what  now 
has  become  of  the  assumed  rule  of  creative  action,  by 
which  the  most  stupid  races  were  to  be  created  and 
have  their  great  geologic  period,  before  the  less  stupid, 
so  as  to  coincide  with  the  assumed  stages  of  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  the  earth  ?  Either  it  was  no 
rule,  or  it  was  violated.  And  if  the  reason  why  one 
race  had  less  brain  than  another,  was  that  they  might 
exist  and  endure  the  tempests  of  their  geologic  cycle, 
then  there  was  a  mistake  in  the  allocation  of  the  fish. 
Had  Baal  been  the  Creator,  and  waited  a  million  or 
two  of  ages  for  the  insensate  laws  of  matter  to  improve 
the  earth  up  to  the  exact  point  where  an  immediate 
creation  of  newts  and  serpents  was  called  for,  some 


THEORY  AS  TO  THE  BRAIN,  UNFOUNDED.     125 

plausible  excuse  for  his  blunder  might  be  devised.  It 
might  be  urged  as  in  another  case  of  his  delinquency, 
"  he  is  a  god,"  though  absent ;  "  either  he  is  talking, 
or  he  is  pursuing,  or  he  is  on  a  journey,  or  peradven- 
ture  he  sleepeth  and  must  be  awaked." 

But  the  blunder  is  far  worse  for  the  geologic  theory 
than  it  proved  to  be  for  the  nimble  creatures  upon 
whom  the  first  experiment  of  life  was  tried,  for  they 
survived  the  storm  which  raged  beneath  and  over 
them,  went  the  round  of  their  circle,  died  and  were 
entombed  ;  and  thus  furnished  us  with  good  and  suffi- 
cient evidence  that  the  theory  is  false ;  that  the  capa- 
city of  enduring  the  shock  of  tempests  does  not 
depend  upon  the  relative  quantity  of  brain  to  the  spinal 
cord.  For  if  it  is  conceded,  and  affirmed,  as  it  is  by  our 
author,  as  a  fact  so  notorious  and  indisputable  as  to 
overthrow  the  Lamarckian  theory  of  development, 
that  fishes  with  the  lowest  proportion  of  brain  are 
superior  to  reptiles  with  one  fourth  or  twenty-five  per 
cent,  more  of  brain  ;  and  though  so  decidedly  supe- 
rior in  all  that  the  brain  can  be  the  means  of,  are  yet 
better  adapted  to  battle  with  the  crude  condition  of 
things  and  the  terrific  storms  of  the  first  epoch  of  life, 
and  therefore  were  created  first,  then  the  rule  of  crea- 
tive action  was  not  deduced  from  the  proportion  of  any 
wiven  quantity  of  brain  to  any  foreseen  or  unavoid- 
able severity   of  tempests.     And  if  the   most   stupid 


126  THE   EPOCH   OF  CKEATION. 

creatures  could,  by  reason  of  their  stupidity,  exist  at 
the  most  imperfect  stage  of  improvement  of  the  planet, 
and  endure  the  tempests  of  that  stage  better  than  any 
more  sensitive  class  of  creatures,  then  there  was  no 
occasion  to  wait  for  the  lapse  of  ages  of  further 
improvement  of  the  planet,  before  creating  the  rep- 
tiles. They  might  have  been  created  at  the  same 
time  with  the  fish  as  well  as  not,  and  lived  contempo- 
raneously as  they  do  now.  Indeed  they  would  have 
had  the  best  of  it.  For  on  the  coming  on  of  a  storm 
from  overhead,  they  could  retreat  to  the  water  ;  and  in 
case  of  a  tempest  from  beneath  they  could  take  to  the 
solid  earth,  which  the  fishes  could  not  do. 

Moreover,  if  the  reptiles  with  twenty-five  per  cent, 
more  of  brain  than  the  fish,  could  live  under  the  same 
circumstances  as  the  latter,  then  who  knows  but  that 
the  bird  with  only  twenty  per  cent,  more  brain  than  the 
reptile,  and  the  mamifer  with  only  one  third  more 
brain  than  the  bird,  might  live  very  well,  as  they  now 
do,  under  the  same  circumstances  ? 

It  should  be  considered  that  it  is  only  the  most 
perfect  of  these  several  classes  that  had  so  large  a 
proportion  of  brain  beyond  the  maximum  of  their 
inferiors  respectively.  The  least  perfect  probably 
had  very  little  more  than  the  best  of  the  next  inferior 
class  ;  so  that  a  goose  or  a  turkey  buzzard  would  have 
little  if  any  more  brain  than  a   sprightly  pike  or  a 


MILLER — HIS   INFERENCES   NOT   SOUND.  127 

cuttle-fish,  and  less  than  a  bird-catching  snake  or  a 
boa-constrictor  ;  and  the  woodchuck  and  the  donkey 
might  have  less  than  the  highest  specimens  of  reptiles 
and  birds. 

On  what  account  it  is,  since  it  is  not  in  quantity  of 
brain,  that  the  author  considers  the  fishes  superior  to 
the  reptiles  of  those  most  ancient  creations,  he  does 
not  state.  The  fact,  however,  if  it  be  one,  is  import- 
ant, since  it  strikes  a  physical  death-blow  to  the 
development  hypothesis.  And  who  knows  but  that 
the  reptiles,  having  obtained  the  birthright  of  the 
fishes,  as  Jacob  obtained  that  of  Esau,  held  the  privi- 
lege ever  afterwards  ?  A  degree  of  probability  to  that 
effect  might  be  inferred  from  the  historical  narrative 
of  the  only  creation  of  reptiles  of  which  we  have  any 
inspired  account.  For  in  that  account  the  reptile, 
whatever  may  have  been  true  as  to  the  dimensions  of 
his  brain,  appears  in  some  other  particulars  to  have 
been  superior  not  only  to  the  fishes  but  also  to  the 
mammiferous  quadrupeds — "  the  serpent  was  more 
subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field." 

If  the  reader  is  not  fully  satisfied  that  this  brain 
theory  is  untenable,  considered  as  having  any  possible 
relation  to  the  hypothesis  of  successive  creations  and 
corresponding  improvements  of  the  earth  by  the 
swathing    and    wet-nursing   of    blind,    unintelligent, 


128  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

insensate  laws   of  dead  matter,  let  it  be   considered 
in  another  aspect. 

The  theory  assumes  that  the  earth,  from  a  state 
originally  of  utter  imperfection,  went  on  improving  in 
its  condition  and  fitness  to  be  the  platform  of  organized 
existence  through  a  countless  succession  of  ages,  while 
the  animal  races  brought  on  to  it  successively  as  it 
became  fit  to  be  their  habitation,  became  from  the 
dawn  of  their  existence  subject  to  a  process  of  decline 
and  degradation,  under  which  they  grew  more  and 
more  imperfect  till  they  could  no  longer  live,  and  so 
one  after  another  of  them  "  died  out."  It  seems  at 
first  a  little  singular  that  the  dead  earth  should  go  on 
improving,  and  by  improving  get  fit  for  living  crea- 
tures, and  that  the  living  creatures  being  produced  as 
soon  as  it  was  fit  for  them,  should  be  subject  to  a 
reverse,  retrograde  law ;  and  probably  the  hypothesis 
would  have  contained  no  such  provision  had  it  not 
been  necessary  to  clear  the  platform  for  new  crea- 
tions. There  would  have  been  no  necessity  for  new 
creations,  had  the  first  races  continued  without  degen- 
erating and  running  out.  But  new  creations  are 
absolutely  indispensable  to  the  geologic  hypothesis  of 
antiquity.  The  very  high  antiquity  of  the  earth  in 
comparison  with  the  Scripture  epoch,  being  the  essen- 
tial point,   it  is  necessary  that  the  hypothesis  should 


MILLER — HIS   ARGUMENT   FALLACIOUS.  129 

treat  the  matter  as  though  the  creatures  were  made 
for  the  earth  and  the  geological  argument,  and  not  the 
earth  for  the  creatures. 

But  this  instructive  portion  of  the  hypothesis  has  a 
bearing  on  the  brain  theory.  This  latter  theory 
teaches  that  a  reptile  is  perfect  as  one  of  his  class,  or 
as  perfect  as  his  nature  permits,  when  his  brain  bears 
to  his  spinal  cord  the  proportion  of  two  and  a  half  to 
one  ;  the  bird  of  three  to  one  ;  the  beast  of  four  to  one  ; 
and  man  of  twenty-three  to  one.  With  that  pro- 
portion they  exhibit  the  perfection  of  their  natures ; 
but  without  it,  or  with  any  considerable  excess  or 
defect,  there  would  be  a  redundancy  or  want  of  those 
faculties  or  capacities  depending  on  the  brain,  which 
distinguish  respectively  the  several  races  and  the  in- 
dividuals of  each  race. 

Now  is  it  the  brain  and  its  relative  proportion  of 
size  which  constitutes  this  distinguishing  characteris- 
tic, or  is  it  something  distinct  from  the  brain,  of  which 
that  organ  may  be  an  instrument,  but  on  which, 
and  especially  on  its  relative  dimensions,  it  has  no 
dependence  whatever  ?  Consider  this  question  with 
reference  to  reasoning  man,  on  the  supposition  that  the 
average  proportion  of  his  brain  to  his  spinal  cord  is  as 
twenty-three  to  one.  Does  his  power  of  reasoning 
depend  in  any  degree  upon  that  proportion,  or  any 
proportion  approximating  to  that  ?  Is  it  not  notorious 
6* 


130  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

that  considerable  portions  of  that  material   substance 
may  be  withdrawn  by  the  instruments  of  surgery,  and 
that  the  whole  of  it,  except  a  shrivelled   figment,   may 
be  dissipated  by  disease  without   impairing  the   sub- 
ject's power  of  reasoning  ?     Is  it  not  well  known  that 
the  like  operations  may  take  place  in  the  lower  animals 
without  impairing  any    of   their    previous    faculties  ? 
And  if  this  may  happen  to  some   individuals  of  the 
several  races,  it  might  happen  to  many,  and  to   all, 
without    affecting    in    any    degree    their    capacity   to 
endure  the  alleged  earth  tempests.     And  so  far  as  the 
dimensions  of  his  brain  were  concerned,  man  might  as 
well   have  been  created  at  the  same   epoch  with  the 
beasts  and  birds.     The  size  of  his  brain  did  not  decide 
his  fitness  as   a  reasoner,  for  a  particular  stage  of  im- 
provement in  the  condition  of  the  earth.     That  he  had, 
in  a  higher  degree  than   the  inferior  races,  that  some- 
thing distinct  from  the  brain,  which  employs  the  brain 
as  one  of  its  instruments,  and  that  that  something  had 
proportionably  more  to  do  in  his  case  than  in  the  other 
cases,  so  as  to  require  an  instrument  relatively  larger, 
may  all  be  very   true.     But  he  might  have  been  fully 
as   much   frightened,  and    his  reason  fully   as   much 
confounded    by   a  sudden,    unforeseen,  and    resistless 
outburst  of  storm  and  tempest,  with  half  his  quantity 
of  brain  as  with   the  whole  of  it.     In  other   words,  a 
necessity  of  his  having  a   given   quantity  of  brain  in 


SUCCESSIVE    CREATIONS  NOT  PROVED.  131 

order  to  his  being  a  reasoner,  and  the  incompatibility 
of  his  having  that  amount  of  brain  and  reasoning,  with 
a  tempest-tossed  state  of  the  earth,  could  not  have 
been  a  reason  for  postponing  his  creation  till  the  tem- 
pests were  over.  Probably  the  relation  of  the  brain  in 
the  lower  races  and  in  man,  to  that  something  of 
which  the  brain  is  an  instrument,  is  one  of  the  unap- 
proachable mysteries  of  creation  which  the  geological 
hypothesis  does  not  unravel.  And  it  is  pitiful  and 
abominable  for  a  geologist,  an  author,  and  a  magnate 
in  the  science  of  geology,  to  confound  that  incompre- 
hensible relation  with  the  brain  itself,  and  make  it  the 
basis  or  an  essential  element  of  an  hypothesis  of  suc- 
cessive creations. 

The  simple  truth  in  the  case  is,  that  there  were  no 
successive  creations,  and  of  course  there  were  no 
reasons  for  them,  nor  any  evidences  of  them.  They 
exist  only  in  fanciful  conjectures,  inferences,  and 
hypotheses  ;  and  other  geologists,  as  well  as  this  au- 
thor, in  speculating  about  them,  inconsistently  cross 
their  own  track  and  confute  themselves.  They  are  all 
occasionally  like  Lamarck,  who  "  had  a  trick  of  dream- 
ing when  wide  awake,  and  calling  his  dreams  philoso- 
phy."— Footprints. 

According  to  the  geological  theory  the  higher  orders 
of  animals  chronologically  succeeded  the  lower ;  and 
first,  when   the    earth    was  sufficiently  improved    to 


132  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

permit  their  existence,  fishes  were  created,  and  during 
their  "  dynasty"  no  superior  class  of  creatures  was 
brought  upon  the  stage.  In  course  of  time  they  de- 
generated and  died  out ;  their  remains  were  imbedded 
in  the  rocks,  and  their  dynasty  was  thus  closed 
and  ended.  Next,  at  a  more  improved  period  of  the 
planet,  "  the  dynasty  of  the  reptiles"  had  its  beginning, 
progress,  and  termination  in  like  manner.  Then  fol- 
lowed the  creation,  reign,  and  extinction  of  the  birds, 
and  after  them  the  dynasty  of  the  beasts.  Now  if  we 
follow  these  successive  dynasties  down  to  their  graves, 
we  ought  to  find  conclusive  evidence  that  they  were 
buried  as  soon  as  they  died,  or  at  least  before  their 
successors  were  created  and  put  in  possession  of  their 
former  dwelling-place.  And  so  beyond  a  question  they 
must  have  been,  if  they  died,  and  died  out,  and  if  their 
inhumation  was  effected  in  the  way  described  by  the 
geologists.  For  their  remains,  uninhumed.  could  not 
without  a  miracle  be  preserved  through  a  long  tract 
of  ages  to  be  then  entombed  side  by  side  with  the 
remains  of  dynasties  succeeding  them,  and  in  sedi- 
mentary beds  formed  long  after  their  career  of  life 
and  rule  had  ceased.  None  of  them,  not  one  of  them, 
if  the  theory  is  true,  ought  to  be  found,  or  is  or  could 
be  found  in  any  higher  or  other  sedimentary  stratum, 
than  that  which  was  formed  for  their  sepulchre,  during 
the  continuance  of  their  life  and  reign.     For  the  inter- 


RELICS  OP  FISHES,  REPTILES,  BIRDS,  ETC.  MIXED.    133 

val  between  the  supposed  successive  creations  was,  by 
the  theory,  immensely  long,  millions  of  ages  perhaps, 
or  more,  during  which  the  sedimentary  deposits  went 
on  to  improve  the  earth  up  to  the  fit  point  of  the 
coming  dynasty  ;  and  if  it  went  on,  and  the  first 
creation  died  off,  its  relics  must  have  been  buried  up 
before  the  relics  of  the  second  creation  were  deposited. 
But  what  do  the  geologists  tell  us?  Why,  they 
honestly  announce  the  fact,  inconsistent  as  it  is  with 
their  theory,  that  the  relics  of  these  successive  "  dy- 
nasties," instead  of  having  been  buried  as  they  should 
have  been  to  sustain  the  theory,  in  their  respective 
and  proper  places  of  sepulture,  are  found  more  or  less 
diffused  and  mixed  with  each  other  in  the  formations 
of  the  supposed  successive  periods. 

In  the  Silurian  group  of  sedimentary  rocks,  which 
is  next  to  the  lowest,  marine  shells,  Crustacea,  and 
various  fishes  are  found.  In  the  next  group,  the  car- 
boniferous, are  fishes,  reptiles,  insects,  and  fresh-water 
shells.  In  the  next,  the  red  sandstone,  are  fishes,  rep- 
tiles, birds,  Crustacea,  &c.  In  the  next  group,  the 
oolitic,  are  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  quadrupeds  (mamma- 
lia), cetacea,  Crustacea,  insects.  Then  in  the  cretaceous 
and  tertiary  groups,  are  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  mamma- 
lia,  Crustacea  shells,  insects.  So  that  the  several  classes, 
the  fancied  "  dynasties"  of  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and 
beasts,   instead  of  being  respectively  created,  living, 


134  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

dying,  and  being  buried  each  in  a  period  chronolo- 
gically and  widely  separated  from  the  others,  were,  as 
their  relics  unequivocally  testify,  created  at  one  and 
the  same  epoch,  and  lived,  and  died,  and  were  buried 
together  in  one  and  the  same  comprehensive  period. 
Fishes,  reptiles,  and  birds,  are  found  in  rocks  formed 
long  after  they,  by  the  theory,  ceased  to  exist,  and 
were  consigned  to  their  last  home  ;  and  mammalia  are 
found  in  rocks  formed  before  they  were  created,  as  well 
as  after  they  became  extinct. 

The  poetry  of  brain-disturbing  storms  and  tempests, 
might  therefore  have  been  spared.  There  was  no  need 
to  marshal  all  the  blind  insensate  forces  of  nature, 
chemical,  mechanical,  atmospheric,  aquatic,  plutonic, 
galvanic,  electric,  to  terrify  the  dynasties  of  smaller 
or  larger  brains,  as  the  eruption  of  hordes  of  starving 
Cossacks  terrifies  the  slumbering  hamlets  which  they 
come  to  sack. 

The  same  conclusion  results  from  another  considera- 
tion ;  namely,  that  the  supposed  violent  action  of  those 
physical  forces  in  producing  earthquakes  and  volcanic 
tempests,  and  thereby,  according  to  the  theory,  elevat- 
ing and  distorting  the  stratified  masses,  could  not 
have  taken  place  till  after  the  several  groups  of  sedi- 
mentary rocks  with  their  fossil  relics  were  deposited. 
This  is  demonstrated  beyond  a  question,  by  the  fact 
that  those  groups,  which  all  agree  were  formed  in  a 


FOSSIL    GROUPS    FORMED    BEFORE    TILTED    UP.       135 

horizontal  position  by  the  precipitation  of  sediment  in 
water,  are  in  their  due  order  and  connection,  tilted  up 
together  to  different  degrees  of  inclination,  in  different 
localities,  and  in  many  instances  to  a  vertical  position, 
which  shows  that  the  disturbing  forces  from  beneath 
must  have  been  dormant  till  the  formations  were  com- 
plete. For  if  the  lowest  fossiliferous  stratum  had  been 
upheaved  during  the  fish  dynasty,  or  that  and  the  next 
during  the  reptile,  the  superior  ones  could  not  have 
been  deposited  on  them,  or  afterwards  tilted  to  a  con- 
formable position.  The  whole  process  of  sedimentary 
formation  must  undoubtedly  have  been  completed, 
before  any  tilting  up  of  the  lowest  and  the  highest 
groups  together  could  take  place,  consistently  with 
their  present  actual  position.  And  therefore  it  cannot 
possibly  be  true  that  the  fishes  were  created  ages 
before  the  reptiles,  the  reptiles  ages  before  the  birds, 
and  the  birds  ages  before  the  beasts  ;  and  of  course 
their  respective  quantities  of  brain  could  not  have 
been  intended  to  fit  them  for  any  foreseen  intensity  of 
earth  tempests.  On  the  contrary  they  must  have  had 
a  calm  and  quiet  time  during  their  lives,  deaths,  and 
burials. 

It  is  remarkable  how  the  minds  of  men,  and  even 
of  good  men,  when  so  engrossed  and  enamored  with 
theories  and  speculations  in  physical  science,  as  to 
fancy  that  there  is   in  its   phenomena  and   its  laws  a 


136  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

competency  to  guide  them,  and  an  intelligibleness  and 
authority,  or  at  least '  an  intelligibleness,  superior  to 
the  written  revelation,  easily  adopt  and  become  recon- 
ciled to  constructions  of  the  inspired  record,  palpably 
inconsistent  with  its  import  as  read  in  conformity  with 
the  known,  legitimate,  and  established  laws  of  lan- 
guage. In  such  cases  they  practically  exalt  what 
they  deem  the  testimony  of  nature,  above  the  testi- 
mony of  the  omniscient  Creator ;  and  under  the  scarf 
and  hood  of  science  as  priestly  vestments,  seem  to 
idolize  nature,  and  in  derogation  of  the  second  article 
of  the  Decalogue,  to  bow  down  to  things  in  the  earth 
and  in  the  waters  under  the  earth.  They  become 
imbued  with  a  superstitious  reverence  of  physical 
nature  and  science,  and  the  claims  and  teachings  of 
inspiration  are  obscured  to  their  view.  The  custom- 
ary exclusion  from  their  inquiries,  recognitions,  and 
theories,  of  all  that  is  supernatural,  tends  to  generate 
a  prejudice  and  aversion  against  the  miracles  of  Scrip- 
ture. And  hence  it  happens,  with  geologists  for 
example,  and  perhaps  without  exception,  that  when, 
out  of  deference  to  their  conclusions,  they  reject  or 
explain  away  the  plain  import  of  the  Mosaic  narrative 
of  creation,  in  respect  to  its  epoch,  its  comprehensive- 
ness, or  other  particulars,  they  find  it  easy  to  reject 
the  narrative  of  the  deluge,  in  respect  to  its  univer- 
sality, and  its  effects  as  a  visitation  of  judgment  on 


MR.  MILLER    ON    THE    FOURTH    COMMANDMENT.       137 

the  earth ;  and  in  like  manner  to  reject  or  lightly 
esteem  the  record  of  other  supernatural  interpositions. 
And  they  appear  to  do  this  under  the  impression  that 
they  are  all  the  more  consistent  believers  of  the  Bible, 
as  being  the  truest  interpreters  of  its  meaning. 

Without  observing  these  things  with  any  special 
reference  to  the  gifted  author  of  the  "  Foot-prints  of 
the  Creator,"  his  exegesis  of  the  fourth  commandment 
may  yet  be  noticed  as  an  illustration  of  what  is  meant. 
Being  firmly  fixed  in  the  geologic  conclusions,  that  in 
the  course  from  stage  to  stage,  of  the  elevatory  process 
of  physical  improvement  of  the  earth,  there  had  been 
successive  creations,  he  readily  brings  himself  to 
think,  that  the  "  six  days"  in  which  the  Lord  made 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them 
is,"  represent  the  immense  periods  which  intervened 
between  those  stages  of  improvement ;  that  the 
seventh  day  on  which  the  Creator  rested,  represents 
the  ensuing  period,  including  the  present  and  all 
future  time ;  and  that  the  reason  why  man  was 
required  to  keep  every  seventh  natural  day  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  was  simply  a  reason  of  proportion. 
Accordingly  he  proposes  the  following  version,  or  sub- 
stitution, in  which  he  "  sees  no  absurdity  ;"  "Six 
periods  shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work  ;  but  on 
the  seventh  period  shalt  thou  do  no  labor,  thou  nor 
thy  son,  &c. ;  for  in  six  periods  the  Lord  made  heaven 


138  THE    EPOCH    OP    CREATION. 

and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested 
the  seventh  period ;  therefore  the  Lord  blessed  the 
seventh  period,  and  hallowed  it."  Because  the  Creator 
did  all  his  work  in  six  periods  of  immense  duration, 
and  rested  throughout  the  whole  remaining  period  of 
time,  present  and  future  ;  therefore,  man  was  to  labor, 
and  do  all  his  work  in  six  natural  days,  and  wholly 
cease  from  labor  on  the  seventh.  But  supposing  the 
natural  days  to  bear  the  right  proportion  to  the 
periods,  or  maintain  the  proportion  of  six  days  and 
periods,  to  seven,  concinnity  would  seem  to  demand  in 
carrying  out  the  parallel,  that  man  should  never  do 
any  more  work  after  the  first  six  days  of  his  life,  and 
that  having  rested  the  seventh  natural  day,  we  should 
hear  no  more  of  him.  But  the  author's  hypothesis 
and  his  ingenuity  help  him  over  this  small  difficulty. 
Being  sure  that  the  six  days  of  creation  were  six 
periods,  and  consequently  that  the  ensuing  day  of  rest, 
inasmuch  as  a  day  of  twenty-four  hours  would  be  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  six  periods  of  duration,  was  a, 
period,  although  future,  of  duration  corresponding  to 
those  which  preceded  it,  he  thinks  that  man's  day  of 
rest  may  have  been  intended  to  include  the  whole  of 
his  natural  life  ;  and  in  that  view  of  the  case  we  must 
of  course  conclude  that  it  was  to  be  a  day  of  seven 
periods  of  incessant  labor.  But  hear  him  ;  for  though 
generally  a  lucid  writer,  he  is  not  altogether  so  as  a 


NEW  VERSION  OF  THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.   139 

commentator.  "  God  rested  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
sanctified  it :  and  therefore  man  ought  also  to  rest  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  keep  it  holy.  But  God's  Sabbath 
of  rest  may  still  exist ;  the  vwrk  of  Redemption  may 
be  the  ivork  [rest !]  of  his  Sabbath  day.  That  ele- 
vatory  process  through  successive  acts  of  creation 
which  engaged  him  during  myriads  of  ages,  was  of  an 
ordinary  week  day  character  ;  but  when  the  term  of 
his  moral  government  began,  the  elevatory  process 
proper  to  it  assumed  the  Divine  character  of  the 
Sabbath.  This  special  view  appears  to  lend  peculiar 
emphasis  to  the  reason  embodied  in  the  command- 
ment. The  collation  of  the  passage  with  the  geologic 
record  seems,  as  if  by  a  species  of  re-translation,  to 
make  it  enunciate  as  its  injunction,  '  keep  this  day, 
not  merely  as  a  day  of  memorial  related  to  a  past  fact, 
but  also  as  a  day  of  co-operation  with  God  in  the  ivork 
of  elevation  in  relation  both  to  a  present  fact,  and  a 
future  purpose.'  God  keeps  his  Sabbath,  it  says,  in 
order  that  he  may  save  ;  keep  yours  also,  that  you 
may  be  saved  !  It  serves,  besides,  to  throw  light  on  the 
prominence  of  the  Sabbatical  command,  in  a  digest  of 
law  of  which  no  part  or  tittle  can  pass  away  until  the 
fulfilment  of  all  things.  During  the  present  dynasty 
of  probation  and  trial,  that  special  ivork  [rest!]  of  both 
God  and  man,  on  which  the  character  of  the  future 
dynasty  depends,  is  the  Sabbath  dav  ivork  [rest  ?]  of 


140 


THE    EPOCH    OP    CREATION. 


saving  and  being  saved."  The  author  must  have 
forgotten,  for  a  moment,  while  writing  this  exposition, 
that  the  Sabbath  day  was  sanctified  for  man,  imme- 
diately after  the  six  days'  work  of  creation  was 
finished,  when  man  was  perfect,  and  needed  no  eleva- 
tory  process,  and  when,  not  having  apostatized,  he 
needed  no  salvation.  And  though  he  may  have  been 
physically  awake,  he  must  have  been  mentally  asleep, 
and  dreaming,  when  he  collated  the  fourth  command- 
ment with  the  geologic  record,  so  as  to  make  it,  "  by 
a  species  of  re-translation,"  enunciate  a  meaning 
wholly  diverse  and  contrary  to  its  meaning  in  the 
inspired  record  of  Moses,  as  read  and  construed  in 
conformity  with  the  uniform  laws  of  language.  The 
beasts,  whose  predecessors  figure  so  largely  in  "  the 
geologic  record,"  are  in  this  geological  re-translation 
of  Moses,  most  unwarrantably  overlooked  ;  and  at  least 
virtually  denied  any  Sabbath  whatever,  since  being 
saved  is  not  predicable  of  them.  The  command  says, 
"  In  the  seventh  day  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou 
nor  thy — cattle." 

A  more  preposterous,  not  to  say  reckless  and  irre- 
verent jumble  of  words  and  ideas,  than  this  exposition 
contains,  is  surely  nowhere  to  be  found,  unless  it  be  in 
the  fancied  inscription  in  the  nether  rocks.  It  is  so 
surcharged  with  absurdity,  as  neither  to  appear  absurd 
to  its  author,  who  saw  only  through  the  opake  glass 


COMMENTS    ON    HIS    EXPOSITION.  141 

of  fossil  relics,  nor  to  require  any  lengthened  refuta- 
tion. With  such  liberty  of  imposing  any  meaning  on 
the  sacred  text  which  any  theory  or  hypothesis' may 
require,  the  Bible  may  be  made  to  support  all  the 
errors  and  false  theories  which  have  ever  been  put 
forth,  and  one  as  well  as  another.  It  were  far  better, 
far  more  modest,  far  less  hurtful,  not  to  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  Scriptures  with  a  theory  which  requires 
such  palpable  and  outrageous  perversion  of  their 
plainest  passages,  their  precepts  and  moral  laws  which 
involve  the  moral  and  religious  obligations,  and  the 
eternal  interests  of  man.  If  such  passages,  a  punc- 
tilious practical  obedience  to  which  was  required  on 
pain  of  death,  may  be  explained  to  mean  anything  or 
nothing,  to  suit  a  physical  theory,  then  the  Bible  is,  as 
to  its  meaning,  the  most  uncertain  of  all  books,  or, 
rather  it  has  no  meaning,  and  is  wholly  unworthy  of 
confidence.  And  in  regard  to  Moses  and  the  Moral 
Law,  we  are  left  to  infer  that  if  he  had  known  what 
our  geologists  know  of  the  inscription  and  revelation 
in  the  rocks  of  bygone  ages,  he  would  have  revised 
and  corrected  his  account  of  the  creation,  and  would 
have  forborne  to  copy  the  moral  law  from  the  tablets 
of  stone,  where  it  was  written  with  the  finger  of  G-od, 
and  made  his  version  conform  to  the  earlier  and  more 
perfect  record.  And  in  that  case  he  would  have  for- 
borne also,  where,  afterwards,  referring  among  other 


142 


THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 


things  to  the  announoement  of  that  Law  from  Sinai, 
in  a  voico  which  shook  the  earth,  to  trifle  with  the 
Israelites  by  saying ;  "Ye  shall  not  add  unto  the 
word  which  I  command  you,  neither  shall  ye  diminish 
aught  from  it,  that  ye  may  keep  the  commandments 
of  the  Lord  your  God,  which  I  command  you." — 
Deut.  iv. 

"When  a  professed  believer  in  the  Bible  has  so  much 
confidence  in  his  inferences  from  geological  facts  as  to 
treat  the  Scriptures  in  this  manner,  his  example, 
under  the  pretence,  affectation,  and  cant  of  science, 
falsely  so  called,  is  of  far  worse  tendency  than  that  of 
the  unblushing  pantheist,  at  the  extreme  of  human 
blindness  and  presumption  on  the  one  hand,  or  that  of 
the  dreaming  idealist  on  the  other,  for  they  reject  the 
Bible  altogether,  without  attempting  to  force  it  to 
support  their  theories. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

Notice  of  Doct.  Hitchcock — Religion  of  Geology 

The  following  extracts  from  a  recent  edition  of 
"  The  Religion  of  Geology  and  its  connected  sciences, 
by  Edward  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of 
Amherst  College  and  Professor  of  Natural  Theology 
and  G-eology,"  will  show  that  the  principal  doctrines 
ascribed  to  foreign  authors,  are  held  at  the  present 
time  by  the  ablest  and  most  widely  known  Geological 
Author  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  These  doctrines 
are  put  forth  as  the  science,  or  what  the  science 
teaches  ;  and  on  that  ground  the  theologian  is  expected 
to  modify  his  interpretation  of  Scripture,  so  as  to  make 
it  at  least  not  inconsistent  with  the  teachings  of  this 
science. 

The  present  writer  is  not  a  little  anxious  rightly  to 
understand  and  represent  this  respected  author,  and 
therefore  quotes  largely  from  his  pages.  In  his  view, 
the  question  at  issue  is  a  vital  one  in  its  relation  to 


144  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

the  inspired  record  concerning  the  creation  of  the 
world,  its  epoch,  the  reasons  of  the  physical  changes 
which  have  taken  place,  the  agencies  by  which  they 
have  been  effected,  the  occurrence  of  successive  crea- 
tions, the  reign  of  death,  the  extent  of  the  Noachic 
deluge,  and  other  things  treated  of  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. If  he  understands  Doct.  H.  correctly,  then 
geology,  as  a  science,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  more 
ancient  and  more  intelligible  revelation  in  respect  to 
these  questions,  than  the  text  of  Scripture  ;  and  as 
furnishing  reliable  and  sufficient  data  for  correcting, 
modifying,  and  re-interpreting  that  text ;  and  therefore 
that  the  natural  theology  which  this  science  teaches 
must  be  studied  and  comprehended  first,  that  its  lights 
may  be  employed  to  elucidate,  correct,  or  modify  the 
hitherto  received  constructions  of  revelation. 

It  is  manifest  that  if  such  claims  and  pretensions 
belong  to  geology  as  a  science,  then  a  secondary,  in- 
ferior, and  unauthoritative  place  must  be  assigned  to 
the  inspired  record,  so  far  as  these  subjects  are  con- 
cerned. But  if  it  is  not  the  science  of  geology  that 
has  any  such  claims  or  pretensions,  but  only  the 
assumptions,  hypotheses,  and  inferences,  which  the 
geologists,  according  to  their  fancies  or  preconceived 
theories,  respectively  deduce  from  the  physical  facts 
which  constitute  their  science,  then  the  conflict  in  the 
case  is  not  a  conflict  between  science  and  revelation — 


DEFINITIONS    OF    GEOLOGY.  145 

the  inconsistencies  to  be  reconciled  are  those  only  of 
erring  mortals,  in  conflict  with  the  authoritative,  unal- 
terable Word  of  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  World. 

Doctor  H.  in  his  work  entitled  "  Elementary  Ge- 
ology," defines  geology  as  follows,  in  the  1st  Section  : 

"  Definition.  Geology  is  the  History  of  the  mineral 
masses  that  compose  the  earth,  and  of  the  organic 
remains  which  they  contain. — Def.  Every  part  of  the 
globe,  which  is  not  animal  or  vegetable,  including 
water  and  air,  is  regarded  as  mineral. — Def.  The 
term  rock,  in  its  popular  acceptation,  embraces  only 
the  solid  parts  of  the  globe  ;  but  in  geological  lan- 
guage, it  includes  also  the  loose  materials — the  soils, 
clays,  and  gravels  that  cover  the  solid  parts — Stratifi- 
cation.— Def.  The  rocks  which  compose  the  globe, 
are  divided  into  two  great  classes  ;  the  stratified  and 

UNSTRATIFIED." 

Webster  defines  geology  to  be  "  The  doctrine  or 
science  of  the  structure  of  the  earth  or  terraqueous 
globe,  and  of  the  substances  which  compose  it." 

The  science  of  geology,  then,  is  the  knowledge  of 
facts  respecting  the  physical  substances  which  compose 
the  globe,  and  of  the  physical  relations  and  connections 
of  those  substances  with  one  another  in  the  structure 
of  the  earth.  These  facts  are  to  be  learnt  by  obser- 
vation ;  and  all  that  is  to  be  known  of  them  is  to  be 
learnt  by  observation.     They  are  simple,  compr^hen- 


146  THE    EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

sible,  fixed  facts.  They  can  be  described  on  paper 
simply  as  facts,  without  any  conjectures  as  to  how 
they  were  caused,  or  any  inferences  as  to  the  time 
occupied  in  their  causation.  The  knowledge  of  them  is 
the  science  of  geology.  They  are  wholly  distinct  from, 
and  independent  of  the  notions,  theories,  inferences, 
conjectures,  and  hypotheses  of  geologists  or  others  who 
observe  them.  These  notions,  theories,  &c.  may  be  in 
the  utmost  degree  inconsistent  with  the  plainest  state- 
ments of  revelation,  while  the  facts  from  which  they 
are  pretended  to  be  deduced,  may  be  obviously  and 
demonstrably  perfectly  consistent  with  those  state- 
ments. The  geological  theories  and  inferences  may 
proceed  upon  the  assumption  that  no  moral  reasons 
existed  for  the  causation  of  the  facts  observed,  and  that 
no  miraculous  or  supernatural  agency  was  interposed 
to  cause  them,  while  the  facts  themselves,  from  their 
very  nature  and  relations,  considered  in  connection 
with  the  statements  of  revelation,  may  clearly  indicate 
that  their  existence  was  due  wholly  to  moral  reasons 
and  supernatural  interference. 

Suppose  now  the  geologist  to  go  forth  to  examine 
the  structure  and  materials  of  the  globe.  He  observes 
two  classes  of  rocks,  stratified  and  unstratified.  They 
are  clearly  distinguishable.  One  has  a  crystallized 
form  and  texture,  the  other  such  a  form  and  texture 
as  would  result  from  the  deposit  of  mud,  sand,  and 


SUPPOSED  COURSE  OF  GEOLOGICAL  STUDY.    147 

gravel   in  water.     These   he  calls    sedimentary.     He 
finds  of  these,  a  regular  succession  of  beds  or  layers 
which  in  the  aggregate  are  some  eight  or  ten  miles  in 
thickness.     These  layers  differ    from  each   other   in 
thickness  and  in  their  mineral  composition ;  that  is, 
in  the  kind  of  earthy  materials  which  they  were  com- 
posed of.     He  finds  them  generally  tilted  up  from  the 
horizontal  position  in  which  they  were  deposited,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  inclination,  and  sometimes  to 
a  vertical   position,  so  as  greatly  to  facilitate  his  ex- 
amination of  them.     He  gives   distinctive  names  to 
these  successive    layers,   indicative  of  their    mineral 
character,  as  gneiss,  lime-stone,  red  sandstone,  slate, 
coal,  clay,  &c.  &c.     He  observes  that  the  lowest  of 
these    sedimentary    formations    everywhere    rests   on 
crystalline  rock  or  granite.     Again  he  observes  that  a 
large  portion  of  these  sedimentary  rocks,  to  the  depth 
of  six  or  seven  miles,  contains  the  skeletons  and  relics 
of  various  plants  and  animals,  terrestrial  and  marine. 

Now  these  and  the  like  undisputed  and  unquestiona- 
ble facts  constitute  what  he  calls,  or  ought  to  call, 
geology.  The  observation,  study,  and  knowledge  of 
them  constitute  the  science  of  geology.  The  facts 
exist  independently  of  any  theory  of  causation,  or  of 
time  occupied  in  effecting  them.  They  existed  ages 
before  geology  was  studied  or  heard  of.  Geology  has 
neither  added  to  nor  diminished  aught  from  them, 


148  THE   EPOCH    OF   CREATION. 

and  if  geologists  had  reported  them  without  any  of 
their  theories  or  inferences  as  to  the  mode  of  causa- 
tion or  the  lapse  of  time  occupied,  no  one  would  have 
dreamed  of  their  being  in  any  respect  in  conflict  with 
the  Scriptures. 

But  the  geologists,  one  and  all,  have  occupied  them- 
selves mainly  in  attempting  to  account  for  the  facts 
disclosed  by  their  researches  upon  some  theory  of  the 
mode  in  which  they  were  caused,  the  physical  agencies 
by  which  they  were  effected,  the  time  occupied,  &c. 
&c. ;  and  they  most  unscientifically  and  unwarrantably 
denominate  the  facts,  and  their  theories  and  inferences 
conjointly,  the  science  of  Geology.  And  inasmuch  as 
their  gratuitous  theories,  assumptions,  and  inferences, 
are  in  many  particulars  palpably  inconsistent  with  the 
plain,  obvious,  natural,  and  legitimate  irnpori  of  the 
sacred  record,  they  hesitate  not  to  represent  the  teach- 
ings of  their  science  as  in  conflict  with  the  received, 
natural,  and  apparent  meaning  of  the  language  of 
revelation.  With  this  view  infidelity  joins  in,  forsak- 
ing its  former  haunts  as  no  longer  tenable,  and  takes 
its  refuge,  not  in  the  facts  of  geology,  which  no  one 
questions,  nor  in  the  science  founded  on  those  facts, 
which  affords  it  no  hiding-place  or  security,  but  in  the 
theories  and  assumptions  of  the  geologists.  Thus,  for 
example,  the  infidel  Lamarckian  theory  of  development 
is  founded  on  the  geological  theory  of  successive  crea- 


PRINCIPLES   STATED  BY   DOOT.  H.  149 

tions  of  plants  and  animals  at  successive  periods,  con- 
formably to  the  geological  theory  of  the  gradual  im- 
provement in  the  condition  of  the  globe  under  the 
operation  of  physical  causes,  and  beginning  with  the 
creation  of  the  most  imperfect,  and  rising  step  by  step 
to  those  more  perfect,  till  the  climax  is  reached  by  the 
production  of  man.  To  combat  this  form  and  front 
of  infidelity,  some  of  the  more  recent  geological 
writers  abandon,  as  a  false  hypothesis,  the  notion  that 
the  products  of  more  recent  creations  were  in  any 
respect  more  perfect  than  those  which  preceded,  and 
aver  on  the  contrary  that  the  earliest  were  the  most 
perfect,  and  cite  the  testimony  of  the  fossil  relics  in 
support  of  this  conclusion.  Others,  however,  still 
adhere  to  their  early  and  fixed  impressions  on  this  and 
other  branches  of  geological  theory. 

The  work  of  Doctor  Hitchcock  now  under  considera- 
tion, comprises  fourteen  Lectures.  Of  these,  the  first 
is  entitled  "  Revelation  illustrated  by  Science."  In 
this  lecture  the  author  states  definitely  what  he  appre- 
hends to  be  "  the  established  principles  of  the  science 
that  have  a  bearing  upon  religious  truth."  Among 
these,  as  numerically  designated  by  him,  are  the  fol- 
lowing : — 2d.  The  same  general  laws  appear  to  have 
always  prevailed  on  the  globe,  and  to  have  controlled 
the  changes  which  have  taken  place  upon  and  within 
it. — 3d.  The  geological  changes  which  the  earth  has 


150  THE   EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

undergone,  and  is  now  undergoing,  appear  to  have 
been  the  result  of  the  same  agencies,  viz.  heat  and 
water. — 4th.  It  is  demonstrated  that  the  present  con- 
tinents of  the  globe,  with,  perhaps,  the  exception  of 
some  of  their  highest  mountains,  have  for  a  long  period 
constituted  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  and  have  been  sub- 
sequently either  elevated  into  their  present  position,  or 
the  waters  have  been  drained  off  from  their  surface. 
This  is  probably  the  most  important  principle  in 
geology,  and  though  regarded  with  much  scepticism 
by  many,  it  is  as  satisfactorily  proved  as  any  principle 
of  physical  science,  not  resting  on  mathematical 
demonstration. — 5th.  The  internal  parts  of  the  earth 
are  found  to  possess  a  very  high  temperature,  nor  can 
it  be  doubted  that  at  least  oceans  of  melted  matter 
exist  beneath  the  crust,  and  perhaps  even  all  the  deep- 
seated  interior  is  in  a  state  of  fusion. — 6th.  The  fos- 
siliferous  rocks,  or  such  as  contain  animals  and  plants, 
are  not  less  than  six  or  seven  miles  in  perpendicular 
thickness,  and  are  composed  of  hundreds  of  alternating 
layers  of  different  kinds,  all  of  which  appear  to  have 
been  deposited  just  as  rocks  are  now  forming  at  the 
bottom  of  the  lakes  and  seas,  and  hence  their  deposi- 
tion must  have  occupied  an  immense  period  of  time. 
Even  if  we  admit  that  this  deposition  went  on  in  par- 
ticular places  much  faster  than  at  present,  a  variety 
of   facts   forbids    the    supposition   that    this    was    the 


PRINCIPLES    STATED    BY    DOCT.  H.  151 

general  mode  of  their  formation. — 8th.  Confirmation 
of  the  same  important  principle   is   found  in  the  well 
established  fact  that  there  have  been  upon  the  globe, 
previous  to   the  existing  races,  not  less  than  five  dis- 
tinct periods  of  organized  existence  ;  that  is,  five  great 
groups  of  animals  and  plants,  so  completely  independ- 
ent that  no  species  whatever  is  found  in  more  than  one 
of   them,   have   lived    and  successively  passed  away 
before  the  creation  of  the  races  that  now  occupy  the 
surface.     Other  standard  writers  make   the    number 
of  these  periods  of  existence  as  many  as  twelve.    Com- 
parative anatomy  testifies  that  so  unlike  in  structure 
were  those  different  groups,  that  they  could  not  have 
existed  in  the  same  climate,  and  other  external  cir- 
cumstances.— 9th.    In   the    earliest   times   in  which 
animals  and  plants   lived,  the  climate  over  the  whole 
globe  appears  to  have  been  as  warm  as,  or  even  warmer 
than,  it  is  now  between  the   tropics.     And  the  slow 
change  from  warmer  to  colder  appears  to  have   been 
the  chief  cause  of  the  successive  destruction  of  the 
different   races  ;   and  new   ones   were  created,  better 
adapted  to  the  altered  condition  of  the  globe,  and  yet 
each  group  seems  to  have  occupied   the  globe  through 
a  period  of  great  length,  so  that  we  have  here  another 
evidence  of  the  vast  cycles  of  duration  that  must  have 
rolled  away,  even  since  the  earth  became   a  habitable 
olobe. — 10th.  There  is  no  small  reason  to  suppose  that 


152  THE   EPOCH   OE   CREATION. 

the  globe  underwent  numerous  changes  previous  to 
the  time  when  animals  were  placed  upon  it ;  that,  in 
fact,  the  time  was  when  the  whole  matter  of  the  earth 
was  in  a  melted  state,  and  not  improbably  also  even 
in  a  gaseous  state.  These  points,  indeed,  are  not  as 
well  established  as  the  others  that  have  been  men- 
tioned ;  but,  if  admitted,  they  give  to  the  globe  an 
incalculable  antiquity. — 11th.  It  appears  that  the 
present  condition  of  the  earth's  crust  and  surface  was 
of  comparatively  recent  commencement,  otherwise 
the  steep  flanks  of  mountains  would  have  ceased  to 
crumble  down,  and  wide  oceans  would  have  been  filled 
with  alluvial  deposits. — 12th.  Among  the  thirty  thou- 
sand species  of  animals  and  plants  [of  which  let  it  be 
observed,  near  two-thirds  are  mollusks  and  radiated 
animals]  found  in  the  rocks,  very  few  living  species 
have  been  detected ;  and  even  these  few  occur  in 
the  most  recent  rocks,  while  in  the  secondary  group, 
not  less  than  six  miles  thick,  not  a  single  species  now 
on  the  globe  has  been  discovered.  Hence  the  present 
races  did  not  exist  till  after  those  in  the  secondary 
rocks  had  died.  No  human  remains  have  been  found 
below  those  alluvial  deposits  which  are  now  forming 
by  rivers,  lakes,  and  the  ocean.  Hence  geology  infers 
that  man  was  one  of  the  latest  animals  that  was  placed 
on  the  globe. — 13th.  The  surface  of  the  earth  has  un- 
dergone an  enormous  amount  of  erosion   by  the  action 


PRINCIPLES   STATED  BY  DOCT.  H.  153 

of  the  ocean,  the  rivers,  and  the  atmosphere.  The 
ocean  has  worn  away  the  solid  rock  in  some  parts  of 
the  world,  not  less  than  ten  thousand  feet  in  depth, 
and  rivers  have  cut  channels  through  the  hardest  strata, 
hundreds  of  feet  deep  and  several  miles  long  ;  both  of 
which  effects  demand  periods  inconceivably  long. 
[Compare  this  with  the  11th  principle.] — 14th.  At  a 
comparatively  recent  date,  northern  and  southern 
regions  have  been  swept  over  and  worn  down  by  the 
joint  action  of  ice  and  water,  the  force  in  general 
having  been  directed  towards  the  equator.  This  is 
called  the  drift  period. — loth.  Since  the  drift  period, 
the  ocean  has  stood  some  thousands  of  feet  above  its 

present   level   in  many    countries. 16th.  There    is 

evidence,  in  regard  to  some  parts  of  the  world,  that  the 
continents  are  now  experiencing  slow  vertical  move- 
ments— some  places  sinking,  and  others  rising.  And 
hence  a  presumption  is  derived  that,  in  early  times, 
such  changes  may  have  been  often  repeated,  and  on  a 
great  scale. — 17.  Every  successive  change  of  im- 
portance on  the  earth's  surface  appears  to  have  been 
an  improvement  of  its  condition,  adapting  it  to  beings 
of  a  higher  organization,  and  to  man  at  last,  the  most 
perfect  of  all. — Finally.  The  present  races  of  animals 
and  plants  on  the  globe  are,  for  the  most  part  disposed 
in  groups,  occupying  particular  districts,  beyond  whose 

limits  the  species  peculiar  to  those  provinces  usually 

7# 


154  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

droop  and  die.  The  same  is  true,  to  some  extent,  as 
to  the  animals  and  plants  found  in  the  rocks ;  though 
the  much  greater  uniformity  of  climate  that  prevailed 
in  early  times,  permitted  organized  beings  to  take  a 
much  wider  range  than  at  present ;  so  that  the 
zoological  and  botanical  districts  were  then  probably 
much  wider.  But  the  general  conclusion,  in  respect 
to  living  and  extinct  animals,  is,  that  there  must  have 
been  several  centres  of  creation,  from  which  they 
emigrated  as  far  as  their  natures  would  allow  them 
to  range. 

"  It  would  be  easy  to  state  more  principles  of  geology 
of  considerable  importance  ;  but  I  have  now  named 
the  principal  ones  that  bear  upon  the  subject  of  religion. 
A  brief  statement  of  the  leading  truths  of  theology, 
whether  natural  or  revealed,  which  these  principles 
affect,  and  on  which  they  cast  light,  will  give  an  idea 
of  the  subjects  which  I  propose  to  discuss  in  these 
lectures. 

"  The  first  point  relates  to  the  age  of  the  world. 
For  while  it  has  been  the  usual  interpretation  of  the 
Mosaic  account,  that  the  world  was  brought  into 
existence  nearly  at  the  same  time  with  man  and  the 
other  existing  animals,  geology  throws  back  its  crea- 
tion to  a  period  indefinitely,  but  immeasurably  remote. 
The  question  is  not  whether  man  has  existed  on  the 
globe  longer  than  the  common  interpretation  of  Genesis 


COMMENTS    ON    DR.    H.'s    PRINCIPLES.  155 

requires — for  here  geology  and  the  Bible  speak  the 
same  language — but  whether  the  globe  itself  did  not 
exist  long  before  the  creation  ;  that  is  long  before  the 
six  days'  work,  so  definitely  described  in  the  Mosaic 
account  ?  In  other  words,  is  not  this  a  case  in  which 
the  discoveries  of  science  enable  us  more  accurately  to 
understand  the  Scriptures  ?" 

Here  let  us  pause  and  enquire  whether  the  "  princi- 
ples" above  recited,  in  so  far  as  they  conflict  with  the 
received  and  obvious  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 
are  entitled  to  be  called  scientific  principles,  unques- 
tionable facts,  or  necessary  deductions  from  scientific 
demonstration,  or  are  of  such  authority  as  axioms, 
intuitions,  or  facts  clearly  manifest  to  observation,  as 
to  disprove  and  nullify  the  literal  and  apparent  import 
of  the  Mosaic  account,  and  render  it  necessary  to  re- 
ject that  account  altogether,  or  by  some  new  inter- 
pretation, to  reconcile  it  with  the  demands  of  geology  ? 
Or  whether,  on  the  contrary,  whatever  in  these  so- 
called  principles  which  conflicts  with  the  received 
interpretation  of  Scripture,  is  not  mere  inference, 
theory,  hypothesis,  or  conjecture,  deduced,  or  purport- 
ing to  be  deduced,  from  the  facts  disclosed  by  geological 
research,  and,  as  associated  with  the  real  or  apparent 
facts,  set  forth  under  the  designation  of  principles,  as 
the  teachings,  demonstrations,  or  conclusions  of 
geological  science  ?     Do  the  admitted  geological  facts 


156  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

(see  6th  principle),  that  the  fossiliferous  rocks,  contain- 
ing animals  and  plants,  are  not  less  than  six  or  seven 
miles  in  perpendicular  thickness,  that  they  are  composed 
of  hundreds  of  alternating  layers  of  different  kinds,  and 
that  all  these  appear  to  have  been  deposited,  just  as 
rocks  are  now  forming  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  and  seas, 
demonstrate  scientifically,  unequivocally,  and  beyond 
all  question,  that  their  deposition  occupied  an  im- 
measurable period  of  time  ?  Is  not  this  assumption  as 
to  an  immense  period  of  time  having  been  so  occupied, 
a  mere  inference  from  a  prior  assumption,  that  the 
deposition  was  caused  by  the  very  slow  and  gradual 
operation  of  natural  causes  ?  Does  the  observed  and 
admitted  fact  that  the  deposition  to  the  alleged  thick- 
ness took  place,  demonstrably  prove  that  it  took  place 
by  the  alleged  gradual  operation,  or  how  and  by 
what  agencies  and  instrumentalities  it  was  effected  ; 
and  that  there  were  no  moral  reasons  for  a  far  more 
rapid  process,  and  for  the  interposition  of  supernatural 
agency  ?  Does  the  fact  that  such  deposition  took 
place  demonstrate  that  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
world  could  not  possibly  have  caused  it  any  more 
rapidly  or  by  any  other  means  than  the  slow  operation 
of  blind,  insensate,  physical  laws  ?  If  not,  then  the 
science  of  geology,  though  it  conclusively  exhibits  the 
fact  that  the  deposition  took  place,  does  not  demonstrate 
that  the  operation  must  have  occupied  an  immense 


COMMENTS   CONTINUED.  157 

period  of  time,  and  therefore  does  not  throw  the  crea- 
tion back  to  a  point  immeasurably  distant.  The 
science  of  geology  discloses  a  stupendous  fact  respect- 
ing the  actual  structure  and  condition  of  the  crust  of 
the  globe.  The  geologist  imagines  and  assumes  that 
this  existing  structure  and  condition  were  caused  by 
the  slow  operation  of  physical  causes,  and  thence 
infers  that  the  globe  was  created  at  an  epoch  incon- 
ceivably earlier  than  the  "  six  days,"  and  thereby  con- 
tradicts the  plain  import  of  the  inspired  account  of  the 
creation.  The  conflict  is  not  that  of  his  science,  but 
that  of  his  inference.  The  science  does  not  and  cannot 
demonstrate  or  exhibit  any  thing  to  render  it  even 
probable  that  the  author  of  the  inspired  account,  the 
Creator  and  Moral  Governor  of  the  world,  had  not  moral 
reasons  for  his  own  immediate  or  supernatural  inter- 
position to  cause  the  admitted  change  in  the  structure 
and  condition  of  the  fossiliferous  and  all  the  sedimen- 
tary formations  of  the  globe.  And  if  he  had  such 
reasons,  then  there  is  nothing  in  the  existing  structure 
and  condition  of  these  formations  inconsistent  or  in 
conflict  with  his  inspired  account  of  the  work  of  crea- 
tion as  having  taken  place  in  the  six  days  of  the  Mosaic 
narrative. 

The  inspired  account  literally  and  unequivocally 
asserts  that  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea,  and   all  that  in  them  is.     It  hints  at 


158  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

no  earlier,  or  other  creation  of  lands  or  seas,  or  living 
creatures.  Does  the  science  of  geology  then  exhibit 
the  indubitable,  well  established  fact  (see  principle 
8th)  that  there  have  been  upon  the  globe  previous  to 
the  existing  races,  five  or  more  distinct  periods  of  orga- 
nized existence ;  five  or  more  great  groups  of  plants 
and  animals,  independent  of  each  other,  which  have 
lived  and  successively  passed  away  before  the  creation 
of  the  races  that  now  occupy  the  surface,  and  that  a 
change  of  climate  (see  9th  principle),  caused  the  suc- 
cessive destruction  of  the  different  races  ;  that  new 
races  were  created,  better  adapted  to  the  altered 
condition  of  the  globe,  and  that  each  group  over- 
spread the  globe  during  periods  of  such  length  as  to 
show  that  vast  cycles  of  duration  must  have  rolled 
away,  even  since  the  earth  became  habitable  ?  Is  not 
all  this  sheer  matter  of  hypothesis  and  inference,  from 
the  construction  which  the  geologists  put  upon  the 
appearances  of  the  fossil  remains  which  fall  under 
their  observation — appearances,  it  may  be,  construed 
fancifully,  or  in  conformity  with  some  preconceived 
theory  of  a  scale  of  being  rising  from  the  less  to  the 
more  perfect,  or  of  an  assumed  gradual  improvement 
in  the  condition  of  the  earth  by  means  of  the  physical 
changes  supposed  to  have  been  in  progress.  And  is 
such  an  inference  entitled  to  be  set  forth  in  opposition 
to  the  literal  import  of  the  inspired  record,  as  a  demon- 


INFERENCES   NOT   SCIENCE.  159 

stration  of  science,  with  the  implied  conclusiveness  of 
a  mathemetical  demonstration  ?  Is  the  Inspired  Word 
to  be  modified,  explained  away,  or  rejected,  to  meet 
the  demands  of  such  an  inference  deduced  from  such 
equivocal,  uncertain,  or  merely  fancied  appearances  ? 

In  a  word,  is  any  fanciful  theory  or  inference  which 
any  geologist  of  established  reputation  thinks  proper 
to  advance,  to  be  of  course  taken  as  a  decision  or 
demonstration  of  science,  and  as  such  arrayed  against 
the  announcements  of  Scripture  ?  Is  the  theory  which 
some  geologists  hold  and  others  reject,  that  the  whole 
matter  of  the  earth  was  once  in  a  melted  state,  and  per- 
haps even  in  a  gaseous  state  (see  10th  principle),  though 
allowed  not  to  be  so  well  established  as  some  other 
geologic  theories,  still,  if  admitted,  is  it  to  be  taken 
by  those  who  admit  it,  in  proof  of  the  incalculable 
antiquity  of  the  globe  ?  Is  the  extinction  of  numerous 
species  of  plants  and  animals  (see  12th  principle),  to 
be  taken  as  conclusive  proof  that  the  present  races  did 
not  exist,  till  after  those  which  are  extinct  had  passed 
away  ?  Does  geology  know  for  certain  when  or  by 
what  means  the  lost  races  were  exterminated  ?  If  no 
human  remains  have  been  found  below  the  alluvial 
deposits  (see  12th  principle),  is  geology  therefore  enti- 
tled to  infer  and  decide  that  man  was  created  ages 
after  those  animals  whose  relics  are  found  further 
down  in  the  rocks  ?     Is  this  a  demonstration  of  science, 


160  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

or  is  it  mere  conjecture  ?  Is  the  relative  position  of 
those  fossil  relics  which  have  been  discovered,  a  surer 
test  of  chronology  than  the  narrative  inspired  by  the 
omniscient  Creator  ? 

If  the  science  of  geology  does  not  in  such  particulars 
as  those  above  mentioned,  exhibit  unquestionable 
demonstration  and  indubitable  evidence  that  the  com- 
mon interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  account  is  not  true 
and  that  the  world  was  in  fact  created  earlier  by  in- 
calculable ages,  and  that  there  have  been  successive 
creations,  &c  ;  if  geology  with  all  its  appended  theo- 
ries and  inferences,  furnishes  nothing  like  positive 
demonstration  or  conclusive  facts  to  bring  in  conflict 
with  the  Scriptures,  but  only  assumptions  and  conjec- 
tures which  carry  an  air  of  plausibility  and  captivate 
the  imagination,  while  supernatural  interpositions  and 
moral  reasons  and  purposes  are  kept  out  of  view  ;  then 
it  may  well  excite  our  special  wonder  that  the  science 
should  be  brought  into  conflict  with  revelation  by  any 
who  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  inspired.  Is  it  not 
passing  strange  that  the  plain  meaning  of  a  record 
believed  to  have  been  dictated  by  the  Creator  and 
Ruler  of  the  world,  should  be  assailed  and  thrown  into 
doubt,  on  the  ground  of  a  theory  of  the  mode  in  which 
physical  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  earth  ?  And 
is  it  any  wonder  that  when  a  good  man  has  adopted 
the    geological  inferences,  and    comes   to    urge  them 


IS   THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION   REVEALED  ?  161 

against  the  received  interpretation  of  Scripture,  he 
should  hesitate  and  feel  embarrassed  at  every  step,  as 
one  not  sure  that  he  is  right,  where  he  admits  that 
certainty  is  of  the  utmost  consequence. 

The  following  extracts  are  from  Doctor  Hitchcock's 
second  Lecture,  entitled  "  The  Epoch  of  the  Earth's 
Creation  Unrevealed."  "My  simple  object  at  this 
time  is  to  ascertain  whether  the  Bible  fixes  the  time 
when  the  universe  was  created  out  of  nothing.  The 
prevalent  opinion,  until  recently,  has  been  that  we  are 
there  taught  that  the  world  began  to  exist  on  the  first 
of  the  six  days  of  creation,  or  about  six  thousand  years 
ago.  (xeologists,  however,  with  one  voice,  declare 
that  their  science  indicates  the  earth  to  have  been 
of  far  higher  antiquity.  The  question  becomes,  there- 
fore, of  deep  interest,  whether  the  common  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Mosaic  record  is  correct."  What  a  falling 
off!  The  science,  instead  of  demonstrating  or  exhi- 
biting indubitable  facts  to  show  the  earth  to  be  of  far 
higher  antiquity  than  the  six  days,  and  thereby  fur- 
nishing solid  ground  upon  which  to  call  the  Mosaic 
record  in  question,  only  indicates  the  earth  to  have 
been  of  that  high  antiquity  ;  the  science,  excluding 
all  reference  to  the  miraculous  interpositions  of  the 
Creator,  and  the  moral  reasons  announced  by  him  for 
such  interpositions,  suggests  the  possibility,  on  the 
ground  of  analogy  in  the  ordinary  operation  of  physical 


162  THE   EPOCH   OF    CREATION. 

causes,  that  the  earth  may  have  been  of  the  alleged 
high  antiquity  ! 

The  rest  of  the  Lecture  seems  to  be  about  equally  di- 
vided in  its  affirmative  and  negative  suggestions  con- 
cerning the  great  question  whether  the  epoch  of  the 
earth's  creation  is  revealed  or  not.  After  some  observa- 
tions as  to  "  the  mode  in  which  the  sacred  writers  de- 
scribe natural  phenomena,"  the  style  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  Scripture  usage  of  the  words  created  and  made, 
and  a  citation  of  the  opinions  of  certain  commentators, 
the  author  says  :  "  We  have  only  to  determine  whether 
the  translation  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation 
most  reasonably  teaches  a  production  of  the  matter  of 
the  universe  from  nothing,  or  only  its  renovation,  and 
we  have  decided  what  is  taught  in  the  original." 

"  Now,  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  but  that  Moses 
intended  to  teach  in  these  passages  (the  first  five  verses 
of  Genesis)  that  the  universe  owed  its  origin  to  Jehovah, 
and  not  to  the  idols  of  the  heathen  ;  and  since  all 
acknowledge  that  other  parts  of  Scripture  teach,  that, 
when  the  world  was  made,  it  was  produced  out  of 
nothing,  why  should  we  not  conclude  that  the  same 
truth  is  taught  in  this  passage  ?  The  language  cer- 
tainly will  bear  that  meaning  ;  indeed  it  is  almost  as 
strong  as  language  can  be  to  express  such  a  meaning  ; 
and  does  not  the  passage  look  like  a  distinct  avowal 
of  this  great  truth,  at  the  very  commencement  of  the 


COMMENTS   ON   GENESIS,    I.   1.  163 

inspired  record,  in  order  to  refute  the  opinion,  so  preva- 
lent in  early  times,  that  the  world  is  eternal." 

In  view  of  this  quotation,  it  would  seem  most  rea- 
sonable to  conclude  that  the  first  five  verses  of  Genesis 
do  reveal  the  epoch  of  the  production  of  the  matter  of 
the  universe  out  of  nothing.  For  if  Moses  intended  in 
those  verses  to  teach  that  the  universe  owed  its  origin 
to  Jehovah  ;  if  other  Scriptures  teach  that  when  the 
world  was  made  it  was  produced  out  of  nothing  ;  and 
if  the  language  of  these  verses,  ending  with  the  close 
of  the  first  day,  is  almost  as  strong  as  language  can 
be  to  express  the  idea  of  the  creation  of  the  matter  of 
the  universe  out  of  nothing  within  the  compass  of  those 
verses,  then  how  can  we  avoid  the  conclusion  that 
these  verses  reveal  the  epoch  of  the  creation  ? 

But  when  did  that  period  transpire  which  ended  with 
the  first  day?  "When,"  asks  Doct.  H.,  "did  this 
stupendous  event  occur  ?"  The  creation  out  of  nothing. 
"  Does  the  phrase  in  the  beginning  show  us  when  ? 
Surely  not ;  for  no  language  can  be  more  indefinite  as 
to  time." 

"  It  is  contended,  however,  that  the  first  verse  is  so 
connected  with  the  six  days'  work  of  creation,  related 
in  the  subsequent  verses,  that  we  must  understand 
the  phrase  in  the  beginning  as  the  commencement 
of  the  first  day.  This  is  the  main  point  to  be  ex- 
amined   in   relation   to    the    passage,    and   therefore 


164  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

deserves  a  careful  consideration."  Behold  now  the 
view  taken.  "If  the  first  verse  must  be  understood  as 
a  summary  account  of  the  six  days'  work  which  fol- 
lows in  detail,  then  the  beginning  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  first  day,  and  of  course  only  about  six 
thousand  years  ago.  But  if  it  may  be  understood  as 
an  announcement  of  the  act  of  creation  at  some  indefi- 
nite point  in  past  duration,  then  a  period  may  have 
intervened  between  the  first  creative  act  and  the  subse- 
quent six  days'  work.  I  contend  that  the  passage 
admits  of  either  interpretation,  without  any  violence 
to  the  language  or  the  narration."  Again,  '•  I  wish  it  to 
be  distinctly  understood,  that  I  am  endeavoring  to  show 
only,  that  the  language  of  Scripture  will  admit  of  an 
indefinite  interval  between  the  first  creation  of  matter 
and  the  six  demiurgic  days.  I  am  willing  to  admit, 
at  least  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  common 
interpretation,  which  makes  matter  only  six  thousand 
years  old,  is  the  most  natural.  But  I  contend  that  no 
violence  is  done  to  the  language  by  admitting  the  other 
interpretation.  And  in  further  proof  of  this  position, 
I  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  distinguished  modern 
theologians  and  philologists,  as  I  have  to  several  of  the 
ancients.  This  point  cannot,  indeed,  be  settled  by  the 
authority  of  names,"  &c. 

Here  then  we  are  left  in  a  state  of  total  uncertainty 
as  to  which  interpretation  is  true  ;  and,  for  aught  that 


ADMISSION    AS   TO    GENESIS,    I  :  1.  165 

appears,  are  at  liberty  to  adopt  one  or  the  other,  or 
neither.  We  are  told  that  the  science  of  geology- 
teaches,  that  is — demonstrates,  for  science  does  not 
teach  what  it  does  not  demonstrate — that  the  earth 
was  created  at  an  epoch  immeasurably  earlier  than  the 
six  days.  Then  we  are  told  that  the  inspired  narrative 
of  the  six  days,  including  the  first  verse  as  well  as 
those  which  succeed,  may  mean,  will  bear  the  con- 
struction, nay,  most  obviously  or  naturally  imports, 
that  the  matter  of  the  earth  was  created  out  of  nothing 
at  the  epoch  of  the  six  days.  Can  these  alternatives 
both  be  true  ?     If  not,  which  shall  we  reject  ? 

Returning,  for  one  more  illustration,  to  the  pre-inti- 
mations  in  the  first  Lecture  of  the  subjects  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  those  which  follow,  we  read  :  "  The  intro- 
duction of  death  into  the  world,  and  the  specific  cha- 
racter of  that  death  described  in  Scripture  as  the  con- 
sequence of  sin,  are  the  next  points  where  geology 
touches  the  subject  of  religion.  Here,  too,  the  general 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is  at  variance  with  the  facts 
of  geology ',  which  distinctly  testify  to  the  occurrence 
of  death  among  animals,  long  before  the  existence  of 
man.  Shall  geology  here,  also,  be  permitted  to  modify 
our  exposition  of  the  %ible  ?"  Is  it  so  then,  that  the 
facts  of  geology  indubitably  show,  or  distinctly  testify 
to  the  occurrence  of  death  among  animals  long  before 
the  existence  of  man  ?     Is  not  this  assertion  a  mere 


1G6  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

begging  of  the  whole  question?  Is  not  the  alleged 
existence  of  animals  long  before  that  of  man,  a  mere 
inference  from  the  fact  that  the  fossil  relics  of 
animals  are  found  imbedded  deep  in  the  rocks,  and 
the  assumption  that  they  were  so  imbedded  by  the 
slow  operation  of  natural  causes  ?  If  they  were 
not  imbedded  by  that  slow  process,  but  by  a  super- 
natural interposition,  then  would  the  author  say  that 
they  bear  any  such  testimony  ?  Do  the  facts  of 
geology  demonstrate  that  they  were  not  inhumed  by 
miraculous  intervention  ?  Would  the  author  for  a 
moment  hesitate  to  speak  of  the  process  by  which  the 
relics  were  buried  up,  as  he  does  in  his  fourth  Lecture 
concerning  the  Noachian  deluge  ;  where,  after  stating 
that  ;<  There  are  reasons,  both  in  natural  history  and 
the  Scriptures,  for  supposing  that  the  deluge  may 
not  have  been  universal  over  the  globe,  but  only  over 
the  region  inhabited  by  man,"  he  proceeds — "  This  is 
a  position  of  no  small  importance,  and  will  therefore 
require  our  careful  examination.  And  in  the  begin- 
ning, I  wish  to  premise,  that  I  assume  the  deluge  to 
have  been  brought  about  by  natural  operations,  or  in 
conformity  with  the  laws  of  nature.  I  feel  no  reluc- 
tance in  admiting  it  to  have  been  strictly  miraculous, 
provided  the  narrative  will  allow  of  such  a  conclusion. 
But  if  it  was  miraculous,  then  we  must  give  up  the 
idea    of  philosophizing   about  it,    and  believe   the 


DEATH   PRIOR   TO   THE   SIX   DAYS.  167 

facts  simply  on  the  Divine  testimony.  For  how  can 
we  philosophize  upon  an  event  that  is  brought  about 
by  the  direct  efficiency  of  God  ?"  Geological  philoso- 
phizing upon  geological  facts,  is  good  then  only  upon 
the  supposition  that  the  facts  were  caused  by  the 
operation  of  natural  laws.  If  there  was  any  miracle 
in  their  production,  then  the  facts  may  be  taken  as 
they  are  and  believed,  simply  on  the  testimony  of  in- 
spiration. Suppose  then  that  the  deluge  was  caused 
by  the  miraculous  interposition  of  Divine  power,  and 
for  the  moral  reasons  assigned  in  the  narrative,  and 
that  among  the  facts  produced  by  that  interposition, 
was  that  of  whelming  the  animals  not  preserved  in 
the  ark,  in  the  sediment  of  the  dissolved  and  trans- 
ported continents,  would  the  facts  in  that  case,  respect- 
ing the  position  of  the  relics  of  those  animals,  distinctly 
testify  to  the  occurrence  of  their  death  long  before  the 
existence  of  man  ? 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  aversion  of  geologists  to  the  supposition  of  Miracles  in  the  produc- 
tion of  geological  changes — The  necessity  on  their  hypothesis  of 
numerous  and  stupendous  miracles — Reference  to  the  theory  of  Doct. 
John  Pye  Smith,  of  a  limited  extent  of  the  Deluge— Inexplicable  facts 
of  Geology — Pebbles — Coal — "  Course  of  Creation  " — Extinction  of 
Races — Preposterous  assumptions  and  inferences  of  geologists — Their 
omission  of  reference  to  the  moral  government  and  purposes  of  the 
Creator. 

Those  geologists  who  profess  to  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures, betray  a  degree  of  anxiety  not  to  alarm  the 
prejudices  of  infidels  by  supposing  any  miraculous  in- 
terpositions in  the  production  of  those  physical  results, 
which  they  can  conceive  might,  in  the  course  of  illimi- 
table rounds  of  duration,  be  produced  by  the  operation 
of  physical  laws.  They  seem  to  have  no  fear  of  shock- 
ing the  infidel  by  the  supposition  of  things  absolutely 
incredible  and  impossible,  if  they  are  but  physical 
things,  and  have  no  relations  to  a  moral  government. 
How  far  this  policy  may  seem  to  them  to  be  likely  to 
convert   the    infidel,  and    lead  him  to  believe  in  the 


MIRACLES    OF   TIIE   MOSAIC   ECONOMY.  1G9 

Bible  and  its  numberless  miracles,  and  in  the  moral 
government  which  they  attest,  they  do  not  tell  us ; 
but  to  us  such  a  course  would  seem  likely  to  confirm 
and  harden  the  skeptic  in  his  unbelief,  and  induce  him 
to  think  that  those  who  profess  to  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures have  not,  after  all,  any  more  faith  in  the  mira- 
cles of  Scriptures  than  they  themselves  have. 

"  I  humbly  think,"  says  Doct.  Pye  Smith,  "  that 
for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  interests  of  genuine 
religion,  it  is  our  duty  to  protest  against  the  practice 
of  bringing  in  miraculous  interpositions,  to  help  out 
the  exigencies  of  arbitrary  and  fanciful  theories." 
Again  :  "  The  Scriptures  abundantly  show  that  the 
Divine  Wisdom  has  not  lavished  away  miracles,  but, 
so  far  as  we  know,  has  wrought  them  only  for  the 
purpose  of  accrediting  the  claim  of  some  one  who  pro- 
fessed to  be  the  bearer  of  a  revelation  from  God." 

Yet  when  this  author  was  endeavoring  to  reconcile 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  with  the  geological  theory 
of  a  vastly  higher  antiquity,  he  feels  no  difficulty  in 
supposing  that  the  creation  of  which  Moses  gives  an 
account  was  confined  to  a  small  region  of  the  earth 
and  that  "  this  region  was  first  by  atmospheric  and  geo- 
logical causes  of  previous  operation  under  the  will  of 
the  Almighty,  brought  into  a  condition  of  superficial 
ruin,  or  some  kind  of  general  disorder" — that  is  a  stato 
of  chaos.     Now  this  must  have  been  a  miracle  if  t!, 


170  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

geological  theory  is  true,  and  a  miracle  for  another  pur- 
pose than  that  of  accrediting  a  prophet.  For  by  that 
theory  the  geological  causes  had,  under  the  will  of  the 
Almighty,  been  during  myriads  of  millions  of  ages 
operating  to  bring  the  earth  forward  out  of  its  prime- 
val chaos,  and  so  to  improve  it  as  to  render  it  fit  for  the 
abode  of  man  ;  and  if  the  operation  of  the  same  causes 
under  the  same  will  now,  by  a  reverse  process,  plunged 
it  back  into  a  chaotic  state,  it  must  have  been  by 
what  we  call  a  miracle. 

It  is  of  the  essence  of  a  miracle  to  arrest,  reverse, 
or  supersede  the  operation  of  physical  causes,  and 
those  causes  cannot  work  opposite  results  without 
being  reversed  by  an  interposition  of  power  superior  to 
theirs,  which  is  miraculous  power.  Moreover,  if  they 
had  during  innumerable  ages  been  operating  in  one 
direction  to  improve  the  earth,  they  could  not  sudden- 
ly react  with  such  force  as  to  plunge  the  earth  back 
into  a  condition  of  superficial  ruin,  general  disorder, 
or  chaos,  without  a  stupendous  miracle,  a  miracle 
adequate  to  undo  in  a  moment  the  work  of  untold 
ages  and  cycles  of  duration.  And  here  it  may  be 
observed  in  passing,  as  one  of  the  long  caravan  of 
camels  which  the  geologists  find  it  convenient  to 
swallow,  that  if  the  process  of  sedimentary  formations, 
by  wearing  down  granite  rocks,  had  been  going  on  in 
every  region  of  the  globe   for  the   improvement  of  its 


MIRACLES    OF   THE   MOSAIC   ECONOMY,  171 

condition  daring  those  immeasurable  periods  of  dura- 
tion, and  if  a  particular  region  was  then  brought  into 
a  chaotic  state,  and  was  by  the  Mosaic  creation  re- 
modelled, made,  and  fitted  up  for  man,  it  is  utterly 
incredible,  not  to  say  impossible,  that  the  re-adjusted 
region  should  afterwards  present  nothing  in  its  geo- 
logical condition  to  distinguish  it  from  any  other 
region.  That  it  does  not,  the  geologists  doubtless  will 
admit.  For  if  it  did,  they  would  have  told  us  long 
ago  where  that  remodelled  and  doubly  improved  region 
is,  and  read  to  us  the  inscription  on  its  rocks,  and 
shown  us  wherein  its  geological  characteristics  differ 
from  those  of  other  regions,  and  explained  how  it  hap- 
pened that  the  other  regions  were  at  the  dispersion 
just  as  well  fitted  to  be  the  abode  of  man  as  that. 

But  the  author  seems  to  caution  us  against  consi- 
dering such  an  interposition  as  this,  a  miracle,  though 
rendered  necessary  to  help  out  the  exigency  of  an 
arbitrary  and  fanciful  theory,  of  the  six  days'  work  of 
creation  ;  by  asserting  that  the  Divine  Wisdom  has  not 
lavished  away  miracles,  but  has,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  wrought  them  only  to  attest  the  claim  of 
some  one  professing  to  be  inspired.  "Were  there  then 
no  miracles  wrought  in  connection  with  the  deluge, 
the  declared  object  and  effect  of  which  was,  by  the 
power  of  the  Creator  over  the  earth  and  the  seas,  to 
destroy  the  whole  of  the  human  and  the  inferior  races 


172  THE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

of  creatures,  except  the  few  preserved  by  the  same 
power  in  the  ark  ?  Was  there  no  miracle  in  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues  and  dispersion  of  mankind  over  the 
whole  face  of  the  earth,  the  declared  purpose  of  which 
was  to  defeat  the  designs  of  the  builders  of  Babel  ? 
Can  geology  account  for  the  origin  of  the  various 
languages,  and  the  sudden  dispersion  of  man  to  all 
parts  of  the  earth,  without  a  real  miracle  ?  Was  there 
no  miracle  in  the  destruction  of  Sodom  ?  Is  it  com- 
mon and  matter  of  ordinary  experience,  that  on  occa- 
sions of  volcanic  eruptions  which  overwhelm  adjacent 
villages,  or  earthquakes  which  swallow  up  cities,  or 
meteoric  tempests  which  burst  alike  on  animal  and 
vegetable  life,  for  the  Creator  himself  to  appear  visibly 
on  earth,  and  to  forewarn  his  friends  that  an  over- 
whelming catastrophe  was  about  to  happen,  not  by  the 
ordinary  operations  of  physical  causes,  but  by  his  own 
immediate  agency,  and  for  the  declared  reason  that 
the  sin  of  those  to  be  destroyed  was  "  very  grievous," 
and  demanded  summary  retribution  ?  Is  not  the  his- 
tory of  the  Israelites  from  the  legation  of  Moses  to  the 
death  of  Joshua,  an  almost  uninterrupted  recital  of 
miraculous  interpositions,  and  unsuspended  super- 
natural agency  ?  Were  not  the  miracles  of  the  pillar 
of  cloud  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night,  the  supply  of 
manna  and  of  water,  and  others,  constant  and  ceaseless 
fur  forty  years  ?     Did  the  supply  of  manna,  the  double 


DOCT.    SMITIT PRIMORDIAL   ELEMENTS.  173 

supply  of  it  on  the  sixth  day  of  each  week,  and  omis- 
sion of  it  on  the  seventh  day,  the  supply  of  quails,  the 
preservation  of  their  shoes  and  raiment  from  decay, 
the  passage  of  the  Jordan,  the  downfall  of  Jericho, 
have  it  for  their  object  to  attest  the  claims  of  some 
one  professing  to  be  a  prophet  ? 

What  can  we  do  less  than  to  suppose  the  venerable 
author  above  quoted  to  be  so  blinded  by  his  views  of 
the  geological  theories  as  to  be  grievously  insensible 
to  the  wonders  of  Divine  operation  revealed,  recorded, 
and  enjoined  upon  our  attention  in  the  Scriptures  of 
truth.  He  had  long  been  a  theological  teacher  and 
writer,  and  a  critic  of  Gfreek  and  Hebrew,  of  no'  incon- 
siderable note.  Yet  he  lends  himself  to  the  Nebular 
hypothesis,  which  never  having  had  a  particle  of 
evidence  to  sustain  it,  has  not  any  less  for  being  ex- 
ploded by  a  telescope.  That  hypothesis  he  expounds 
as  follows  :  "  That  Grod  originally  gave  being  to  the 
primordial  elements  of  things,  the  very  small  number 
of  simple  bodies," — the  same,  let  the  reader  remember, 
which  the  first  sentence  of  the  inspired  record  calls  the 
creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth, — "  endowing  each 
of  those  simple  bodies  with  its  own  wondrous  pro- 
perties. Then,  that  the  action  of  those  properties,  in 
the  ways  which  his  wisdom  ordained,  and  which  we 
call  laws,  produced^  and  is  still  producing,  all  the 
forms  and  changes  of  organic  and  inorganic  natures  ; 


174  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

and  that  the  series  is  by  Him  destined  to  proceed,  in 
combinations  and  multiplications  ever  new,  without 
limit  of  space  or  end  of  duration."  That  is,  as  else- 
where taught  or  implied  by  him,  and  more  minutely 
described  by  other  amateurs,  the  only  creation  of  any- 
thing that  ever  took  place,  was  that  of  the  primordial 
elements  of  things.  These,  in  the  deep  abysses  of 
the  past,  prior,  it  must  be  presumed,  to  the  development 
of  the  power  of  gravitation,  were  stored  up  somewhere 
in  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity  ;  ready  to  be  thrown  off 
piecemeal  to  form  suns  and  planets  to  be  thrust  into 
their  several  orbits,  moulded  into  their  due  forms,  and 
subjected  to  the  law  of  gravitation.  The  several 
primordial  elements  invested  with  those  properties 
which  we  call  laws,  being  at  length  combined,  the 
action  of  those  properties,  or  laws,  began  to  produce 
and  went  on  and  still  go,  and  are"  forever  to  go  on  pro- 
ducing "  all  the  forms  and  changes  of  organic  and 
inorganic  natures."  If  this  is  not  the  development 
theory  in  all  its  grossness,  it  yet  would  seem  to  preclude 
any  supernatural  interposition  in  the  production  of  man 
or  of  any  other  creature  in  the  "  six  days,"  narrated  by 
Moses. 

Again,  Doctor  Smith,  to  avoid  the  supposition  of  so 
many  miracles  as  a  universal  deluge  would  have  re- 
quired, comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Noachic  deluge 
was  local  and  of  but  limited  extent,  and  that  it  occurred 


DOCT.    SMITH — LOCAL   DELUGE.  175 

in  the  same  region  where  the  six  days'  creation  took 
place.  He  objects  to  the  universality  of  the  deluge 
expressly,  because  it  would,  in  his  opinion,  have  re- 
quired certain  particular  miracles  which  he  specifies. 
A  great  increase  in  the  quantity  of  water  he  supposes 
would  be  necessary,  and  require  a  miracle.  This 
of  course  would  depend  on  the  height  of  the  mountains. 
If  lofty  mountains  had  not  then  been  forced  up,  then 
perhaps  no  additional  quantity  of  water  was  needed. 

The  gathering  together  of  animals,  birds,  creeping 
things,  and  insects  from  polar,  tropical,  and  all  other 
regions  of  the  earth,  to  the  place  where  the  ark  was 
built,  would,  he  supposes,  require  "  miracles  more 
stupendous  than  any  that  are  recorded  in  Scripture." 
But  if  the  human  race  had  not  extended  itself  beyond 
the  boundary  of  the  local  deluge,  why  should  the  in- 
ferior races  have  spread  themselves  over  the  whole  face 
of  the  globe  ?  The  only  answer  is,  the  assumption  of 
the  geologists,  that  those  races  were  by  successive 
creations  (miracles)  brought  into  existence  at  different 
places,  which  they  call  centres  of  creation.  But  if 
they  were,  why  not  suppose  the  same  of  the  different 
tribes  of  men  ?  By  the  Scripture  account  of  the  "  six 
days,"  the  lower  animals  and  man  were  created  at  one 
time  and  place.  If  there  were  afterwards  at  other 
places  creations  of  the  lower  animals,  why  not  also  of 
man  ?      Who   can   tell  ?      At   best,    such   successive 


176  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION". 

creations  would  be  miracles,  no  less  than  the  gathering 
of  specimens  of  animals  created  to  one  place,  unless, 
indeed,  those  creations  were  merely  the  natural  effect 
of  physical  laws — organic  natures  produced  by  the 
action  of  the  inherent  properties  of  the  primordial 
elements  of  things,  and  if  so,  what  should  hinder  the 
production  of  man  by  force  of  those  properties  wher- 
ever they  were  in  operation  !  And  in  that  case  what 
would  be  the  use  of  a  deluge  unless  it  was  universal, 
and  such  as  to  be  described  in  the  words  of  Scripture  : 
"  All  the  high  hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven 
ivcre  covered.  Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters 
prevail :  and  the  mountains  ivere  covered.  And  all 
flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both  of  fowl  and 
of  cattle,  and  of  beast,  and  of  every  creeping  tiling 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  and  every  man  :  all  in 
whose  nostrils  was  the  breath  of  life,  of  all  that  ivas 
in  the  dry  land  died,  and  every  living  substance  was 
destroyed  vihich  ivas  upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  both 
man  and  cattle,  and  the  creeping  things,  and  the  fowl 
of  the  heaven  ;  and  they  were  destroyed  from  the 
earth  ;  and  Noah  only  remained  alive  and  they  that 
were  with  him  in  the  ark."  If  it  be  possible  by  a 
multiplication  of  affirmatives,  and  details  concerning 
what  was  or  what  was  not  done,  to  express  the  idea 
of  unqualified  universality,  it  may  safely  be  deemed 
to  be  expressed  in  these  inspired  statements.     And  if 


MIRACLES    ON   TTTE   GEOLOGIC    THEORY.  177 

the  deluge  was  universal,  and  was  caused,  as  the  nar- 
rative attests,  by  the  immediate  interposition  of  the 
Creator  and  Moral  Governor  of  the  world,  for  moral 
reasons  which  are  expressly  announced,  and  which  im- 
ply the  necessity  of  its  being  universal,  then  whatever 
miracles  that  interposition  produced,  must  be  admitted 
and  believed,  or  the  whole  narrative  must  be  given  up. 
The  physical  difficulties  which  a  creature  of  the  fallen 
race  may  conceive  of,  as  to  the  capacity  of  the  ark  to 
hold  all  the  animals,  though  expressly  constructed 
under  th^.  divine  direction  for  that  purpose  ;  as  to  the 
provision  of  suitable  food  for  them  ;  as  to  marine  and 
fresh  water  fish  living  in  a  mixture  of  salt  and  fresh 
water  ;  and  as  to  the  possibility  of  Noah  and  the  crea- 
tures with  him  descending  from  the  congealed  summit 
of  what  is  now  called  Mount  Ararat ;  these  and  all 
others  of  the  same,  or  of  any  other  sort,  are  irrelevant 
and  to  no  purpose,  and  cannot,  without  the  utmost 
impropriety,  if  the  narrative  is  believed,  be  adduced 
in  opposition  to  it. 

Let  us  now  see  how  far  the  author  avoids  the  neces- 
sity of  miracles  by  supposing  the  deluge  to  have  been 
limited  to  that  region  which  at  the  six  days'  creation 
had  been  brought  into  a  chaotic  state,  and  was  remo- 
delled and  fitted  up  for  the  habitation  of  man,  and  which 
he  supposes  continued  to  be  his  place  of  abode  up  to 
the  time  of  the  delude.     In  order  to  make  that  region 


ITS  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

the  scene  of  an  exterminating  delnge  of  twelvemonths' 
duration,  great  physical  changes  were  required  in  its 
geological  condition.     It  must  be  suddenly  sunk  down 
after  Noah  entered  the  ark  so  as  to  hold  in  the  basin 
thus  formed,  a  sufficient   quantity   of  water.     For   if 
the  rain  of  forty  days,  and  the  waters  of  the  ocean  had 
been  precipitated  upon  that  region  while  at  its  former 
level,  the  waters    would   have    flowed    over    adjacent 
regions,  and  the  deluge  would  not  have  been  restricted 
to  its  proper  limits.     Accordingly,  the  author  says  : — 
"  If  in  addition  to  the  tremendous  rain,  we  suppose  an 
elevation  of  the  bed  of  the  Persian    and  Indian  seas, 
or   a  subsidence    of  the  inhabited   land    towards    the 
south,  we  shall  have  sufficient  causes,  in  the  hand  of 
Almighty  justice,  for  submerging  the  district,  covering 
its  hills,  and   destroying  all    living  beings   within  its 
limits,  except  those  whom  Divine  mercy  preserved  in 
the  ark."     Now  the  sinking  of  this  region  at  the  proper 
moment,  with  the  ark  and  all  the   human   and    other 
creatures  within  the  supposed  limits,  to  a  depth  suffi- 
cient  to  allow  the  water  about  to  be  poured  into  the 
basin  to  cover  the  high  hills  of  the  region,  and  espe- 
cially if  it  included  the  mountain  now  called  Ararat, 
with  its  summit  of  perpetual  ice,  would  doubtless  in- 
volve one  or  more  very  great  miracles,  such  as  may 
well  be  referred  to  the  hand  of  Omnipotence,  and  if  a 
moral  reason  for  the  operation  is  admitted,  to  the  hand 


MIRACLES   OF   LOCAL   DELUGE.  179 

of  "  Almighty  justice."  The  raising  of  the  bed  of  the 
Persian  and  Indian  seas  at  the  same  moment,  or  shortly 
after,  would  be  necessary  in  order  that  their  waters 
might  continue  to  run  into  the  basin  till  it  was  full. 
This  would  require  one  or  more  important  miracles. 
Then  a  miracle  would  be  required  to  prevent  those 
elevated  seas  from  running  off  laterally  and  submerg- 
ing other  regions  of  the  earth.  When  the  deluge  had 
accomplished  its  main  object,  another  miracle  would 
be  called  for  to  elevate  the  submerged  region  to  its 
former  level,  and  another  to  sink  the  bed  of  the  Persian 
and  Indian  seas  again  so  as  to  receive  back  their 
waters.  This,  accordingly,  the  author  provides  for. 
"  The  draining  off  of  the  waters  would  be  effected  by 
the  return  of  the  bed  of  the  seas  to  a  lower  level,  or  by 
the  elevation  of  some  tracts  of  land  which  would  leave 
channels  and  slopes  for  the  larger  part  of  the  water  to 
flow  back  into  the  Indian  ocean,  while  the  lower  part 
remained  a  great  lake  or  an  inland  sea — tho  Caspian." 

It  occurs  here  to  observe,  that  should  the  geologists 
ever  adopt  a  theory  by  which  it  would  be  important  to 
discover  where  the  fossil  remains  of  the  antediluvians 
are  deposited,  they  might,  following  this  account  of  the 
deluge,  be  encouraged  to  look  for  them  under  the 
waters  of  the  Caspian  sea,  or  in  its  neighborhood. 

Such  an  attempt  to  substitute  a  local  for  an  uni- 
versal deluge,  may  serve  to  show  how  the  mind  of  a 


180  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

geologist,  devout  and  conversant  with  the  Scriptures 
though  he  be,  may  be  mystified  and  bewildered  by 
physical  studies,  theories,  and  associations.  In  no 
other  view  is  it  of  any  significance  or  worthy  of  any 
respect.  If  in  the  Scripture  narrative  of  an  universal 
deluge,  any  relief  in  regard  to  the  greatness  or  number 
of  miracles  were  needful  or  desirable,  this  feigned 
substitute  does  not  afford  it,  and  in  several  particulars 
implies  ignorance  and  foolishness  in  the  inspired 
account.  If  the  deluge  was  to  be  limited  to  a  particu- 
lar district  which  comprised  all  the  inhabitants  to  be 
destroyed,  would  it  not  be  folly  for  Noah  to  employ 
himself  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  in  forewarning 
the  people  of  its  approach  ?  "Would  they  not  feel  that 
they  might  at  a  short  notice  migrate  beyond  the 
borders  of  that  district?  Would  not  some  living  near 
the  borders  have  time  to  escape  even  after  the  rain 
began  to  fall  ?  Could  he  have  produced  in  any  one  a 
conviction  that  inevitable  destruction  awaited  him  in 
case  of  the  deluge  actually  happening  ?  And  in  case 
of  such  local  deluge,  where  was  the  necessity  of  an 
ark,  and  the  miracles  which  it  implies  whether  the 
deluge  was  local  or  universal  ?  Could  not  Noah,  with 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  of  prescience,  easily 
migrate  with  his  family  and  the  animals,  beyond  the 
foredoomed  district  ? 


KKMARKABLE   GEOLOGIC   FACTS.  181 

Geology  exhibits  to  us  many  remarkable  facts  which 
are  inexplicable  on  the  current  theory,  and  which  we 
must  be  content  to  leave  unexplained,  or  explain  by 
referring  them  to  supernatural  agency. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  "  crust "  of  the  earth 
to  the  depth  of  ten  miles  or  more,  consists  of  rocks, 
clays,  &c,  formed  of  sediment  precipitated  in  water  ; 
and  this  vast  aggregate  of  sedimentary  matter  is  dis- 
tributed into  thirty  or  more  distinct  layers,  differing 
from  each  other  in  their  mineral  composition. 

The  distribution  of  homogeneous  mineral  matter 
into  the  respective  layers  is,  from  the  nature  of  the 
resulting  combination,  ascribed  to  chemical  action ; 
and  it  necessarily  supposes  the  presence  at  the  forma- 
tion of  the  respective  layers,  of  the  entire  mass  of 
diverse  materials  out  of  which,  by  chemical  action,  the 
materials  of  each  particular  layer  were  selected,  or 
else  it  supposes  that  the  rocks  from  which,  by  the 
geological  theory,  the  sediment  was  slowly  derived, 
yielded  during  the  formation  of  the  successive  layers, 
only  such  mineral  matter  as  the  layers  respectively  in 
their  order  required.  During  the  vast  period  there- 
fore, on  this  latter  supposition,  occupied  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  lowest  sedimentary  rock,  which  rests  on 
the  original  granite  platform,  the  granite  from  which 
the  materials  were  derived  by  trituration,  yielded  only 
that  sort  of  mineral  matter  which  composes  gneiss. 


1S2 


THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 


Above  this,  not  to  mention  less  important  layers,  o.t  I 
that  of  the. primitive  limestone,  a  thousand  feet  or  mor  ■ 
in  thickness ;  the  old  red  sandstone  several  thousanu 
feet  in  thickness  ;  chalk  a  thousand  or  more  feet  thick  ; 
during  the  formation  of  which,  respectively,  the  original 
unstratified  granite  rock,  the  source  of  sedimentary 
materials,  must  have  yielded  only  such  mineral  mat- 
ter as  each  layer  while  in  progress  required.  Now,  if 
this  be  not  incredible  and  inconceivable,  it  would  at 
least  be  difficult  to  state  a  proposition  entitled  to  be 
so  considered.  For  by  the  geologic  theory  of  gradual 
trituration  and  washing  down  of  the  granite  rock,  each 
of  these  layers  must  have  required  myriads  of  ages  ; 
and  when  one  layer  ceased,  and  another  commenced, 
the  granite  must  have  begun  to  yield  a  different 
mineral  matter  from  that  which  preceded.  If  it  be 
said  that  limestone  (and  chalk  as  a  carbonate  of  lime) 
is  formed  of  marine  shells  instead  of  detached  and 
worn  down  particles  of  granite,  then,  during  the  for- 
mation of  a  bed  of  limestone  rock  a  thousand  feet  in 
thickness,  the  disintegration  and  washing  down  of 
granite  rock  must  have  been  suspended  till  shells 
enough  were  produced  and  aggregated  to  supply  the 
requisite  quantity  of  materials.  But  as  has  been 
observed  before,  to  suspend  the  alleged  process  of 
detaching  and  washing  down  sediment  from  the 
granite,    would    require    a    stupendous    miracle.     It 


INTERNAL   IFEAT — DEPTH    OF   TIPE   SEA.  183 

would  be  to  suspend  the  laws  of  nature  over  the  whole 
or  a  large  portion  of  the  earth. 


It  is  supposed  by  the  geologists  generally,  that  the 
interior  of  the  globe — below  the  crust,  which  some 
think  may  be  thirty,  and  others  more  than  thirty  miles 
thick — is  a  mass  of  melted  matter.  If  such  is  the 
fact,  since  it  is  the  nature  of  heat  to  rarify  and  expand 
the  heated  matter,  one  might  naturally  conclude  that 
the  interior  would  be  proportionably  lighter  than  the 
crust  which  has  been  condensed  and  hardened  by  cool- 
ing. Yet  they  teach  us  that  as  a  whole,  the  earth  is 
about  five  times  heavier  than  water,  and  two  and  a 
half  times  heavier  than  common  rocks.  Instead  there- 
fore of  being  more  rare  and  expanded  than  the  outer 
shell,  the  interior  must  be  far  more  compact  and  solid. 


The  mean  depth  of  the  ocean  is  estimated  to  be 
about  three  miles,  while  extensive  portions  of  it  are 
supposed  to  be  nine  or  more  miles  in  depth.  The  mean 
height  of  the  land,  on  the  contrary,  probably  does  not 
exceed  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  the  ocean  level.  The 
dry  land  therefore,  if  spread  over  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean,  might  all  be  submerged  to  a  considerable  depth 
without  any  increase  in  the  quantity  of  water.  Yet 
many  geologists,  without  knowing  anything  whatever 
as  to  the  relative  height  of  land  and  sea  at  the  period 


184:  THE   EPOCH   OP    CREATION. 


of  the  deluge,  object  to  the  universality  of  that  visita- 
tion on  the  grount 
make  it  universal. 


tion  on  the  ground  that  there  was  not  water  enough  to 


The  geologists,  in  support  of  the  theory  of  numerous 
centres  of  creation  in  distinct  zoological  and  botanical 
provinces,  allege  that  very  few  of  the  species  of  plants 
and  animals  which  they  contain,  can  long  survive 
a  removal  out  of  the  province  where  they  were  origin- 
ally placed,  because  their  natures  cannot  long  endure 
the  difference  of  climate,  food,  and  other  changes  to 
which  they  must  be  subject.  Yet  they  inform  us  that 
the  carcasses  of  tropical  animals,  elephants  for  exam- 
ple, are  found  in  Siberia,  and  the  remains  of  tropical 
plants  in  the  coal  formation  of  Melville  Island  75° 
north  latitude. 


The  theory  of  "a  scale  of  beings"  in  which  the 
animals  of  various  species  are  arranged  in  a  continuous 
and  unbroken  series,  like  the  links  of  a  chain,  each 
link  in  the  ascending  scale  being  more  perfect  than 
that  which  preceded  it,  till  man  was  reached,  very 
naturally  furnished  the  groundwork,  or  at  least  a 
plausible  suggestion  of  the  notion,  entertained  at  an 
early  period  of  geological  research,  and  more  or  less 
down  to  the  present  day,  that  the  fossil  remains  of 
animals  were  deposited   in   conformity  with   such  a 


SCALE   OF  BEINGS   AND   FOSSILS.  185 

scale,  the  most  imperfect  being  lowest  down  in  the 
rocks,  and  being  in  regular  order  succeeded  by  more 
perfect  types.  From  this  notion  and  assumption, 
resulted  the  Lamarckian  theory  of  development  and 
the  geological  theory  of  successive  creations,  neither 
of  which  can  pretend  to  have  even  a  shadow  of  plausi- 
bility if  the  assumed  order  of  succession  in  the  fossil 
relics  does  not  in  fact  exist.  But  the  progress  of  obser- 
vation and  research  has  demonstrated  the  non-exist- 
ence of  any  such  succession.  Not  only  is  it  demon- 
strated that  the  fishes  and  other  faunas  and  the  floras 
of  the  lowest  fossiliferous  rocks  are  as  complicated 
and  finished  in  their  structure,  and  otherwise  as  perfect 
as  those  of  any  superior  group,  or  those  of  the  present 
day,  but  also  that  the  pretended  products  of  successive 
creations,  instead  of  being  deposited  in  a  series 
separately  from  each  other,  are  mingled  together  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  take  away  all  support  from  this 
source,  to  the  hypothesis  of  the  extinction  of  species 
successively  to  make  room  for  the  creation  of  new 
ones.     [See  Doct.  Anderson's  work.] 

Pebbles. — From  the  generally  rounded  form  of  peb- 
bles, the  geologists  treat  of  them  as  fragments  of  rocks, 
which  acquired  their  globular  shape  and  their  smooth- 
ness of  surface  by  being  rolled  in  currents  of  water. 
Assuming  this  to  be  the  process,  it  is  obvious  to  infer 
from  their  hardness,  the  polish   which  they  bear,  and 


1S6  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

the  positions  in  which  they  are  found,  that  vast  periods 
of  time  must  have  been  occupied,  and  an  immense 
amount  of  friction  expended,  in  their  formation.  But 
there  are  many  and  very  grave  objections  to  the  sup- 
position of  their  having  been  formed  in  this  manner. 
An  examination  of  a  bed  of  gravel  and  pebbles,  from 
a  half  inch  to  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter,  will 
exhibit  such  a  variety  in  their  forms  and  their  mineral 
composition,  as  forcibly  to  suggest  the  impossibility  of 
their  having  originally  consisted  of  fragments  of  rocks, 
and  of  their  having  attained  their  forms  by  the  friction 
of  rolling  in  water.  The  extreme  hardness  of  most  of 
them  precludes  the  supposition  that  rocks  equally  hard 
had  been  so  broken  up  as  to  supply  the  requisite  frag- 
ments. No  known  natural  process  would  ever  accom- 
plish such  a  result ;  and  if  the  fragments  were 
provided,  no  conceivable  amount  of  rolling  and  friction 
against  each  other,  without  an  extreme  vertical  pres- 
sure, and  a  motive  power  far  exceeding  that  of  cur- 
rents of  water,  would  ever  wear  off  their  angles  and 
give  them  their  rounded  form.  Can  any  one  imagine 
that  masses  of  flint- rock  were  ever  so  broken  into 
fragments  as  to  supply  the  rounded  nodules  of  that 
mineral  ;  or  that  rocks  of  the  garnet  or  topaz  family, 
or  any  of  those  of  the  most  simple  and  homogeneous 
composition,  and  of  the  greatest  specific  gravity,  were 
ever  subjected  to  such  a  process  ;  or  that  if  they  were 


GEOLOGIC  THEORY  OF  PEBBLES.         187 

they  would  ever  acquire  a  globular  form  by  trituration 
in  water  ?  Suppose  a  triangular,  flat,  or  otherwise 
irregularly  shaped  fragment  of  flint-rock  to  be  thrown 
into  a  rapid  current  of  water  on  a  rock  bottom,  or  that 
masses  of  such  fragments  were  subjected  to  the  action 
of  currents  violent  enough  to  drift  them,  would  they 
roll  ?  An  experiment  would  probably  convince  any 
one.  that  they  must  first  be  rounded  before  a  tardy  or 
a  rapid  current  of  water  would  give  them  a  rotary 
motion. 

To  sustain  the  popular  theory,  it  would  be  requisite 
to  show  that  in  chemical  or  mechanical  composition 
the  pebbles  are  like  the  rocks  from  which  the  supposed 
fragments  were  derived.  But  those  fragments  were 
not  granite.  In  their  chemical  or  mechanical  struc- 
ture they  are  not  like  granite,  or  if  any  of  them  are, 
they  are  but  exceptions  to  a  general  rule.  If  the  peb- 
bles were  formed  by  rounding  the  fragments  of  pre- 
existing rocks,  they  must  have  been  such  sedimentary 
rocks  as  their  mineral  composition  in  some  respects 
resembles.  The  pebbles,  however,  especially  the  hard- 
est, heaviest,  smoothest,  and  most  regularly  shaped, 
are  not  in  their  structure  sedimentary,  but  either 
crystallized,  or  their  ingredients  are  mechanically  com- 
bined otherwise  than  in  sedimentary  rocks.  In  gene- 
ral, they  .exhibit  the  appearance  of  having  been  chemi- 
cally or  mechanically  formed  in  the  beds  which  they 


188  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

now  occupy,  after  the  mineral  matter  of  which  they 
consist  had  been  accumulated  in  those  beds  ;  and  their 
position,  in  relation  to  the  clay,  sand,  chalk,  or  other 
materials  by  which  they  are  surrounded,  cannot,  be 
satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  any  other  supposition. 
They  are  aggregations  of  quartz,  feldspar,  mica,  or  other 
simple  homogeneous  matter,  chemically  and  mechani- 
cally separated  from  the  earthy  mass  around  them  ; 
and  owing  their  spherical,  oblong,  prismatic,  or  other 
forms  and  their  smooth  surfaces,  to  the  same  laws  to 
which  diamonds  and  other  crystals  owe  their  peculiar 
forms  and  polished  sides.  Flint  pebbles  abound  in 
chalk-beds,  where  they  could  scarcely  have  been  depo- 
sited by  currents  of  water  ;  for  when,  if  ever,  they 
were  diffused  and  deposited  in  their  present  state  at  all 
levels,  the  chalk  must  have  been  in  so  soft  and  mov- 
able a  condition  as  to  offer  no  resistance  to  such  cur- 
rents. Moreover,  they,  like  many  other  pebbles  in 
wholly  different  situations,  when  broken  often  exhibit 
at  the  centre  a  nucleus  of  the  aggregation,  which  can- 
not be  supposed  to  have  existed  in  the  centre  of  broken 
fragments  of  pre-existing  rocks,  rounded  by  attrition, 
and  then  floated  to  their  permanent  position  as  pebbles. 
The  theory  of  rounding  by  attrition  is  incompatible 
with  the  variety  of  forms  of  the  existing  pebbles. 
Many  of  them  are  thin,  with  two  flat  and  smooth  sur- 
faces, and  a   circular,  elliptical,  or  other  regular  cur- 


PEBBLES   NOT   FORMED   BY   EOLLING.  189 

vilinear  periphery.  No  one  surely  can  imagine  that 
such  forms,  equally  polished  throughout,  could  be 
produced  by  rolling,  or  any  other  possible  motion  in 
water.  Many  of  them  likewise  are  oblong,  egg-shaped, 
and  differing  in  every  conceivable  degree  from  exact 
spheres,  and  yet  equally  smooth  on  every  portion  of 
their  surface.  In  numerous  instances  those  which  are 
extremely  hard  lie  side  by  side  with  others  of  no  more 
solidity  than  indurated  clay  or  soft  red  sandstone, 
which,  if  subjected  to  such  action  of  water  as  would 
abrade  and  change  the  forms  of  the  harder  specimens, 
would  be  instantly  destroyed.  And  again,  in  the  same 
gravel-bed,  and  in  immediate  contact  with  each  other, 
are  scores  of  pebbles  differing  in  their  mineral  compo- 
sition as  widely  as  pure  silex  differs  from  mica  or  any 
compounded  mineral. 

These  and  other  obvious  difficulties  attending  the 
prevalent  theory,  besides  those  which  relate  to  the 
transportation  and  deposition  of  the  rounded  pebbles 
to  the  positions  which  they  occupy  in  loose  gravel-beds, 
and  in  conglomerate  rocks,  and  breccias,  are  avoided 
by  the  supposition  of  their  having  been  formed  by 
chemical  and  mechanical  forces  of  comminuted  sedi- 
mentary matter  in  the  beds  in  which  they  now  exist. 
And  why  should  they  not  owe  their  consolidation,  the 
ingredients  of  which  they  respectively  consist,  their 
peculiar  forms,  and  their  regular  and  polished  surfaces, 


190  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

to  those  forces  under  appropriate  circumstances,  as 
truly  as  the  rocks  under  other  circumstances  from 
which,  by  the  common  theory,  fragments  were  de- 
tached to  be  rounded  into  those  forms  ?  or  as  the 
topazes,  the  cornelians,  the  sapphires,  hyacinths, 
rubies,  emeralds,  beryls,  or  any  of  the  numerous 
families  of  crystallized  minerals?  "Will  not  the  same 
chemical  affinities  and  mechanical  combinations  ac- 
count for  the  selection  of  mineral  substances,  the 
forms  assumed,  and  the  smooth  and  glass-like  sur- 
faces, in  the  one  case  as  well  as  in  the  other  ? 

Without  a  more  extended  or  minute  elucidation  of 
this  subject,  the  foregoing  observations  may  suffice  to 
show  that  the  geologic  theory  concerning  pebbles  is 
untenable  ;  that  it  involves  difficulties  which  it  cannot 
obviate  ;  that  it  is  assumed,  not  proved  ;  and  that  no 
just  inference  can  be  deduced  from  it  in  support  of 
preadamite  cycles  of  duration.  The  same  natural 
causes  to  which  the  geologists  ascribe  the  formation 
of  rocks  in  extended  masses,  were  adequate  to  the 
formation  of  pebbles  out  of  similar  materials ;  and  no 
reason  can  be  assigned  why  those  causes  should,  not 
have  operated  in  the  latter  as  well  as  in  the  former  of 
these  instances. 


Coal. — The  following  extracts  concerning  the  coal 
formation,    are  taken  from  the  recent   work  of  John 


ANDERSON COAL    FORMATION.  l'Jl 

Anderson,  D.D.,  of  Scotland,  entitled  "  The  Course  of 
Creation."  [See  chap.  5,  Time  and  the  Geological 
Epochs.] 

"  The  carboniferous  class  of  rocks  have  all  the 
marks  of  a  very  peculiar  formation,  constructed  for  a 
special  purpose,  and  elaborated  amidst  an  extraordi- 
nary state  of  things.  Here  we  meet  with  vast  accu- 
mulations of  vegetable,  calcareous,  and  metallic  sub- 
stances, for  which  we  detect  no  anterior  preparations. 
The  coming  on  and  the  outgoing  of  the  whole  coal 
series  are  as  distinct  as  they  are  surprising.  To  what 
are  we  to  compare  them  ?  By  what  scale  of  time  are 
we  to  adjust  the  terms  of  their  growth  ?"  After  refer- 
ring to  calculations  that  have  been  made  as  to  the  rate 
of  increase  per  annum  of  pure  vegetable,  matter  over 
a  given  area,  he  gives  as  the  result.  "  That  about  six 
hundred  thousand  years  were  occupied  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  whole  coal  series."  But  this  calculation 
of  time  proceeds  upon  two  assumptions  :  1st.  That 
the  volcanic  and  other  violent  forces  supposed  to  have 
been  in  operation  in  preceding  periods,  were  suspended 
during  the  period  of  extraordinary  vegetable  growths, 
so  that  "  throughout  the  whole  of  the  carboniferous 
era  a  state  of  repose  seems  to  have  universally  pre- 
vailed." 2d.  That  "all  the  living  productive  powers 
of  nature  were  just  as  violently  in  operation  as  the 
others  were  quiescent,"  and  that  a  condition  of  nature 


192  TIIE   ErOCH   OF   CREATION. 

existed,  "  that  produced  uniformity  of  vegetation  over 
the  entire  surface  of  the  globe,  as  the  coal  deposit 
everywhere  manifests,  and  all  of  gigantic  dimensions 
in  every  family  of  plants — the  whole  earth  being 
covered  with  a  flora  not  only  of  unrivalled  exuberance, 
but  of  uniform  distribution  nearly  on  every  part  of  its 
surface." 

Now  suppose  these  conditions  to  have  existed,  and 
the  crust  of  the  globe  to  have  been  kept  in  a  state  of 
repose  for  six  hundred  thousand  years,  after  the  up- 
heavals,  agitations,    and   tempests   of    the    preceding 
ages,   whence    and   by  what   means  were  the  earthy 
materials,  the  rocks  and  shales  provided,  which  rest 
on  the  coal,    and  are   interposed   between   successive 
beds   of  that   mineral  ?     That   vast  masses   of   those 
materials  must  have  been  universally  at  hand,  and  in 
a  condition  to  be  rapidly  moved  and   universally  dif- 
fused  in  water,  and  precipitated  on  the  accumulated 
vegetable  matter,  is  manifest.     This  the  author  admits, 
and   cites   in   proof  of  it   the   frequent   occurrence  of 
"  fossil  trees  in  the  coal  measures  in  an  upright  posi- 
tion, or  but  little  inclined  to  the  plane  of  stratification. 
These  are  numerous,"  he  adds,    "  in  every  coal  field, 
and  are  often  traced  through  several  layers  or  beds  of 
reck.     The  fossil  trees  of  Craigleith  and  Granton  were 
about  fifty   feet   in  length,   and  lying  at  an  angle  of 
scarcely  twenty  degrees   to  the  strata  in  which  they 


BOCKS  OVER  COAL,  QUICKLY  FOEMED.      193 

are  imbedded.  Their  passage  through  the  solid  rock, 
therefore,  cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet,  that  is,  a  mass  of  sandstone  of  corresponding 
depth  must  have  been  formed  during  the  comparatively 
short  period  that  trees  of  lofty  stature  were  able  to 
resist  the  destroying  action  of  the  elements,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  chances  of  currents,  hurricanes,  and 
other  agents,  breaking  them  in  pieces.  This  instantia 
cruets  may  be  extended  to  every  sandstone  bed  of  the 
formation,  and  thus  serve  to  exercise  a  salutary 
restraint  upon  the  mind  in  its  imaginary  conceptions 
of  the  enormous  periods  of  time  required  for  the  accu- 
mulation of  the  whole  series." 

But  though  this  author  is  thus  convinced  that  the 
process  of  sedimentary  deposit  must,  in  the  case 
referred  to,  have  been  very  rapid,  if  not  instantaneous, 
universally,  he  suggests  no  resource  of  sedimentary 
matter  universally  present  to  be  thus  quickly  depo- 
sited, no  mode  in  which  it  could  be  universally  and 
rapidly  diffused  in  water,  no  means  by  which  only 
homogeneous  materials  should  be  furnished,  nor  any 
evidence  that  successive  coal-beds  were  formed  by  suc- 
cessive vegetable  growths  on  the  successive  overlying 
beds  of  rock.  The  whole  process,  as  conceived  of  by 
him,  may  safely  be  pronounced  impossible.  From  the 
universality  and  simultaneousness  of  the  formation, 
as  represented  by  him,  it  follows   that   the  vegetable 

9 


194  .      THE    ETOCII    OF    CREATION. 

growths  occurred  within  the  areas  which  they  now 
occupy  in  the  form  of  coal.  They  could  not  have  been 
transported  from  a  distance  without  precluding  so 
general  a  deposit  of  coal.  The  successive  layers  could 
not  have  been  produced  by  growths  on  the  rocks  on 
which  they  now  rest,  for  those  rocks  exhibit  no  traces 
of  soil  between  their  surfaces  and  the  coal  itself. 
During  the  progress  of  those  growths  the  area  which 
they  occupied  could  not  have  been  overflowed  with 
water ;  and  when  advanced  to  maturity,  nothing  short 
of  an  universal  deluge  would  account  for  their  being 
simultaneously  submerged  and  covered  with  sediment. 

The  assumed  period  of  repose  is  not  sufficient  to 
account  for  any  item  of  the  whole  process,  unless  it 
be  the  supposed  universal  exuberance  of  vegetation  ; 
and  that  would  imply  a  state  of  the  earth  altogether 
more  perfect  than  it  has  exhibited  at  any  more  recent 
period,  or  does  at  present,  and  which  at  least  is  not 
very  likely  to  have  been  interposed  between  the  pre- 
viously unbroken  series  of  convulsions,  and  the  ensu- 
ing period,  of  which  the  author  says  :  "  The  carboni- 
ferous period  was  immediately  succeeded  by  a  period 
of  great  violence  and  of  vast  disturbance  in  the  solid 
crust  of  the  earth.  Hence  the  broken,  inclined  posi- 
tion of  the  coal  strata,"  &c. 

Many  at  least  of  the  insurmountable  difficulties  of 
this  theory  may  be  avoided  by  supposing  that  no  pre- 


GEOLOGIC    DIFFICULTIES.  105 

ceding  ages  of  convulsion  took  place  ;  that  the  earth 
was  created  with  a  surface  not  of  barren  rocks,  morass- 
es, and  sandy  deserts,  but  complete  and  perfect  in  all 
its  adaptations,   and  universally  prepared  to  be  spon- 
taneously and   most  exuberantly  prolific  of  vegetable 
growths  ;  that  in  the  course  of  1600  years  it  became 
stocked  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  such  growths  to 
supply  all  the  vegetable  deposits  of  the  coal  measures ; 
that  in  consequence  of  the  apostasy  and  wickedness  of 
man  it  was  then  destroyed  by  the  waters  of  the  deluge, 
its  animal  and  vegetable  races  submerged,  and  its  prolific 
soil  diffused  in  the  waters,  and  by  chemical  and  other 
agencies  separated  and  distributed  into  homogeneous 
layers  in  a  regular  and  conformable  series  ;  that  it  was 
afterwards  subjected  to  volcanic  and  other  convulsions, 
its  mountain  ranges   elevated  and   bearing  upon  their 
summits   the  sedimentary  rocks   by  which  they  were 
previously  overlaid,  its  stratified  formations  elsewhere 
tilted  and  contorted  as  the  geologist  now  finds  them, 
and  its  carboniferous,  mineral,  and  metallic  treasures, 
thereby  rendered   accessible  to   the   toil  of  degenerate 
man,  and  subservient  to  the  wants  of  his  shortened  and 
precarious  life. 

For  this  course  of  things  there  was  a  moral  reason ; 
a  reason  connected  with  those  facts  of  man's  early  his- 
tory, his  moral  defection  and  physical  degradation,  of 
which,  in  their  exhaustless  hereditary  virulence  and 


196  THE   EPOCH   OF    CREATION. 

misery,  we  ourselves  are  witnesses  and  monuments  ;  a 
reason,  connected  with  all  the  subsequent  dispensa- 
tions and  measures  of  Providence  and  grace,  down  to 
the  consummation  and  restitution  of  all  things  ;  a  rea- 
son, intrinsically  and  in  all  its  bearings  and  relations, 
adequate  and  worthy  to  be  announced  by  the  Creator 
and  moral  governor  of  the  universe. 

But  for  the  other  course  of  things — the  fancied 
course  of  successive  creations  and  extinctions,  turbu- 
lence and  repose,  doing  and  undoing,  with  at  best 
none  but  physical  reasons,  or  rather  the  blind,  insen- 
sate tendency  and  operations  of  physical  laws,  as  a 
guide,  what  have  the  geologists  to  say  for  it  ?  Why, 
that  the  planet  as  originally  created  was  a  shapeless 
mass  of  discordant  materials,  left  to  be  nursed  up  by 
the  discipline  of  earthquakes,  volcanoes,  tempests,  ca- 
taclysms, and  successive  creations,  destructions,  and 
re-creations,  till,  on  reaching  its  present  state  of  im- 
provement, it  was  fit  to  be  inhabited  by  men,  notwith- 
standing that  the  greater  part  of  its  surface  still  con- 
sisted of  barren  deserts,  congealed  artics  and  inaccessi- 
ble mountains.  Countless  myriads  of  ages  having 
been  occupied  in  this  process  of  improvement,  the 
"  Course  of  Creation"  ceased,  the  measure  of  perfection 
had  been  attained.  The  production  of  man  was  the 
climax  :  Some  at  least  holding  that  no  subsequent  act 
of  creation  has  taken    place  ;    while  others  talk  as 


GEOLOGIC   THEORIZING. 


197 


familiarly  of  new  creations  of  plants  and  animals,  as 
new  centres  of  creation  invite  them,  as  they  talk  of 
such  operations  in  relation  to  the  immeasurable  past. 

In  this  course  of  things  one  gifted,  practised,  Chris- 
tian man,  a  lay-theologian,  writer,  and  editor,  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  discerns  "  The  Foot-prints 
of  the  Creator  "—the  foot-prints  of  the  Being  of  Infi- 
nite perfection,  who  spake  and  the  heavens  and  earth 
existed,  as  the  theatre  of  His  moral  ami  spiritual  em- 
pire, the  scene  of  his  boundless  and  endless  adminis- 
tration in  the  disclosure  and  manifestation  of  himself 
to  His  intelligent  creatures  ;  and  in  comparison  with 
whose  physical  works,  this  planet  is  bat  as  a  small 
particle  of  dust. 

Another  not  less  gifted  and  Christian  man,  of  the 
same  country,  a  Doctor  of  Theology,  discerns  in  this 
progress  of  things  "  The  Course  of  Creation,"— as  if 
that  glorious  Being,  with  all  His  moral  purposes  and 
manifestations  in  abeyance,  had  employed  Himself 
millions  of  ages  in  bringing  this  particle  of  dust  into  a 
habitable  condition,  though  an  instant  volition  would 
have  endowed  it  with  a  completeness  worthy  of  His 
own  perfection  :  as  if  He  had  successively  exerted  in- 
numerable acts  of  creation,  only  to  be  nullified  by 
corresponding  exterminations  :  and  at  last  produced 
only  such  a  world  of  chaotic  disorder  as  the  geologists 
report  this  to  be,  and  such  a  scene  of  life  taken  as  a 


198  THE   EPOCH   OF   CEEATION. 

whole,  as  is  barely  tolerable  to  a  fallen  race  ;  a  world 
which  yet  requires  a  physical  renovation  to  fit  it  for 
the  race  when  renovated  and  restored  to  their  original 
state  as  moral  beings. 

Of  Doctor  Anderson,  however,  whose  work  has  been 
received  only  since  these  sheets  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  publisher,  and  of  which,  therefore,  only  a  very 
slight  inspection  has  been  practicable,  it  may  be  proper 
to  say,  that  he  seems  less  under  the  spell  of  geologic 
infatuation  than  his  contemporaries,  and  especially  in 
respect  to  what  he  terms  the  millionade  doctrine  ; 
the  untold,  incalculable,  and  inconceivable  myriads  of 
millions  of  years,  which,  absurd  as  the  supposition  of 
them  is,  are  yet  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  scien- 
tific theory  of  geologic  causation.  Though  he  holds 
to  a  far  higher  antiquity  of  the  earth  than  of  man,  he 
all  but  ridicules  the  excessively  prodigal  use  of  such 
terms  as  myriads  and  millions  to  account  for  what  he 
deems  more  likely  to  have  been  produced  in  thousands 
or  scores  of  thousands  of  years.  "  As  to  the  millionade 
doctrine,  if  I  may  so  term  it,  there  are  in  every  view 
the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  adoption — 
errors  of  calculation  somewhere  to  be  corrected,  incon- 
sistencies to  be  reconciled,  conditions  of  organic  life 
gratuitously  assumed  and  to  be  rectified.  It  matters  not, 
indeed,  whether  we  take  the  organic  or  the  inorganic 
structures  of  the  several  periods  as  the  gauge  of  their 


THE   MILLIONADE   DOCTKINE.  199 

probable  duration — the  living  tribes  that  existed 
throughout  such  periods,  and  whose  relative  ages  we 
can  approximate  to — or  the  dead  rock  in  which  the 
remains  are  interred.  The  Laws  of  Nature,  in  the 
one  case,  are  nearly  uniform ;  species  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals, have  their  limited  terms  of  existence  ;  and 
experience  establishes  the  fact  that  the  living  tribes 
of  the  modern  epoch  have,  in  several  instances,  become 
extinct  within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  time. 
The  operations  of  nature  in  the  other  case  are  subject 
to  vast  diversity,  great  anil  sudden  changes,  and  appa- 
rently limited  by  no  ascertained  maximum  of  develop- 
ment, and  thus  combined,  so  far  as  our  present  state 
of  knowledge  extends,  the  inference  is  warrantable, 
that  in  the  geological  register  the  error  may  be  one  of 
millions  of  years  reckoning  !" 

Nevertheless  this  sedate,  instructed,  and  thoughtful 
writer  is  in  doubt  concerning  the  "six  days."  He 
speculates  upon  them  under  different  aspects  and  with 
reference  to  different  theories.  "  If  any  departure  from 
the  literal  rendering  of  the  text  can  be  permitted,  so 
as  to  fit  in  and  adjust  the  geological  phenomena,  it 
may  be  justly  contended  that  there  is  less  of  violence 
and  straining  by  the  substitution  of  periods  for  days, 
than  by  casting  aside  the  whole  genetic  description  as 
having  no  bearing  whatever  upon  the  primary  cosmo- 
gony of  the  globe."     After  noticing  several  modes  of 


200  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

reconciling  the  Mosaic  text  with  the  geologic  phe- 
nomena, without  seeming  to  adopt  or  to  be  satisfied 
with  any  of  them,  he  says,  "  There  is  still  a  great  deal 
to  be  accomplished,  even  with  all  these  approximations, 
towards  a  right  and  full  and  literal  comparison  with 
the  same  text.  It  is  better,  infinitely  better,  to  rest 
with  unhesitating  confidence  in  the  received  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture,  than  be  borne  away  by  sweeping 
generalizations,  built  most  certainly  somewhere  upon 
loose,  conflicting  elements  of  calculation.  Countless 
millions  of  years  are,  we  admit,  as  nothing  in  the 
records  of  eternity,  of  no  account  with  the  Everlasting 
of  days.  Nevertheless,  if  the  time  can  be  reduced,  as 
unquestionably  there  are  data  for  the  reduction,  the 
epoch  and  the  days  approximate  all  the  closer  ;  the 
speculations  of  the  science  are  brought  into  better 
keeping  with  the  dicta  of  revelation  ;  farther  discoveries 
will  lead  to  farther  adjustments  ;  and  what  was  done 
for  the  interests  of  the  one  by  detecting  the  miscalcu- 
lations of  Hindoo  astronomy,  will  again  be  effected  for 
the  other  by  scanning  more  intelligibly  the  geological 
horoscope — and  thus  removing  every  ground  of  suspi- 
cion or  offence  will  serve  to  bring  this  interesting 
branch  of  knowledge  from  the  outer  court  of  the 
Gentiles  to  the  innermost  shrine  of  the  Temple  of 
Truth."—  Chap.  6th. 

Had  it  occurred  to  this  inquisitive  and  candid  author 


EXTINCTION    OP   SPECIES.  201 

before  he  commenced  his  geological  researches,  or 
when  he  began  the  composition  of  his  work,  that  all 
the  leading  facts  of  geology  are  far  more  easily  and 
credibly  to  be  accounted  for  by  ascribing  them  to  the 
immediate  and  summary  interposition  of  the  Creator 
and  Moral  Governor  of  the  world  by  means  of  the 
Noachic  deluge  and  its  attendant  phenomena;  for  the 
reason  assigned  for  that  stupendous  and  world-wide 
visitation  ;  and  by  the  use  of  the  materials,  the  mineral 
matter,  the  vegetation,  and  the  animal  organisms  of  a 
previously  perfect  condition  of  the  earth,  its  prolific 
soils,  its  climates  and  its  spontaneity;  than  by  any 
of  the  theories  of  insensate  laws  with  whatever  liberty  of 
unlimited  drafts  upon  time,  it  may  be  presumed  to  be 
not  improbable  that  he  would  have  come  to  the  un- 
wavering conclusion  that  the  received  literal  import  of 
the  Mosaic  record  is  that  which  the  inspiring  Spirit 
intended  to  convey. 

Extinction  of  Species  of  Plants  and  Animals. — 
In  the  fossiliferous  groups  of  rocks  are  found  the  relics 
of  various  extinct  species  of  plants  and  animals  ;  and 
it  is  very  obvious  to  ask,  on  supposition  that  those  spe- 
cies were  created  at  the  Mosaic  epoch,  and  that  their 
relics  have  since  been  fossilized,  how  and  why  they 
have  become  extinct  ?  The  geologic  theory  assumes 
that  they  were  created  at  successive  periods,  long  an- 
terior to  the  Mosaic  epoch,  as  the  earth   became  fitted 

9* 


202  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

to  be  their  abode,  and  that  the  products  of  each  crea- 
tion were  exterminated  to  give  place  to  their  success- 
ors. On  that  hypothesis,  it  would,  contrary  to  the 
fact,  be  natural  to  expect  that  none  of  the  fossilized 
species  would  be  reproduced  in  succeeding,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  latest  or  Mosaic  work  of  creation.  If  they 
were  all  created  at  the  Mosaic  epoch,  and  have  since 
become  extinct,  the  mode  of  their  extinction  may,  per- 
haps, be  undiscoverable  by  us;  but  the  reasons  for  it, 
we  may  safely  conclude  to  have  been  the  saiue  as 
those  for  shortening  man's  life,  and  for  the  various 
physical  changes  the  earth  has  undergone.  There 
were  moral  reasons  for  great  physical  changes  in  the 
earth  and  its  climates,  its  productions  and  adaptations 
in  all  respects  to  be  the  scene  of  life,  at  the  era  of  the 
deluge  ;  as  is  evident  from  the  announced  and  the  ob- 
served results.  That  the  extinction  of  many  species  of 
plants  and  animals  should  be  among  these  results,  is 
not  less  credible  than  that  an  abridgment  of  eighty 
or  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  years  of  man's  life  should  be 
among  them.  Suppose  the  only  creation  of  plants  and 
animals  to  have  been  that  of  the  "six  days,"  and  that 
specimens  of  every  species  were  preserved  in  the  ark, 
all  the  rest  of  all  the  species  being  destroyed  and  their 
relics  buried  ;  and  suppose  that  on  emerging  from  the 
ark,  the  changed  condition  of  the  earth  from  extreme 
fertility  to  extreme  barrenness,  precluded  the  continued 
existence  of  many  species  of  herbivorous  animals,  and 


CHANGE    OF    CLIMATES.  203 

thence  precluded  the  continued  existence  of  many 
of  the  carnivorous  species  ;  and  that  those  of  different 
species  which  escaped  were  favored,  some  by  the  fore- 
sight and  care  of  man,  and  others  by  climate,  local 
position,  peculiar  habits,  or  other  circumstances ;  would 
not  such  a  condition  and  course  of  things  sufficiently 
account  for  the  result  in  question, — the  extinction  of 
species  ?  Suppose  again,  what  is  neither  incredible 
nor  improbable,  that  among  the  changes  effected  in 
connection  with  the  deluge,  the  polar  axis  of  the  earth 
was  changed  from  a  horizontal  direction  at  right  angles 
with  the  plane  of  the  equator,  to  its  present  inclined 
direction,  causing  a  change  in  the  now  temperate  and 
frigid  zones,  from  equatorial  warmth  to  the  perpetual 
congelation  of  the  polar  circles,  and  the  extremes  and 
vicissitudes  of  the  more  temperate  latitudes.  The 
considerations  in  favor  of  such  a  change,  it  is  not  now 
necessary  to  adduce.  The  change  was  as  practicable, 
and  in  itself  as  likely  to  be  effected,  as  that,  or  any  of 
those,  which  caused  terrene  sterility,  and  abridged  the 
life  of  man.  It  cannot  be  demonstrated  that  such  a 
change  took  place,  neither  can  the  contrary  be  demon- 
strated. If  it  took  place,  it  affords  a  further  solution 
of  the  extinction  of  species,  and  throws  some  light  on 
one  of  the  stumbling-blocks  of  geology,  viz.  the  exist- 
ence of  the  relics  of  tropical  plants  and  animals  in  the 
frigid  and  polar  regions. 


204  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

Were  then,  it  may  be  asked,  the  extinguished  spe- 
cies of  animals  preserved  in  the  ark,  only  to  perish  by 
famine  and  by  insupportable  climates,  on  emerging 
from  it  ?  Such  a  question  may  be  fitly  answered  by 
another.  Did  man  enter  the  ark  with  a  constitution 
of  nine  hundred  years'  duration,  and  quit  it  only  to 
propagate  a  diseased  and  puny  race,  a  small  portion 
only  of  whom  withstand  the  physical  evils  within 
and  around  them,  so  long  as  seventy  years  ?  Did 
not  the  tribes  of  giants,  the  sons  of  Anak,  the  deni- 
zens of  Bashan  and  of  Gath,  become  extinct,  as  well 
as  the  megatheriums  of  Zoology  ?  Is  it  not  notori- 
ous, and  among  the  things  admitted  and  alleged  by 
geologists  of  the  greatest  name.  1st,  That,  including 
the  whole  period  of  organized  existence,  the  same 
genera  and  species  of  plants  and  animals  have  been 
common  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  2d,  That 
the  fossil  remains  of  plants  and  animals  entombed  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  pretended  inconceivable 
cycles  of  time,  are  the  remains  only  of  a  few  great 
families.  3d,  That  in  all  the  pretended  new  creations 
of  plants  and  animals  in  the  progress  of  the  great  geo- 
logic periods,  no  new  types,  no  individuals  even,  but 
those  of  preceding  genera  and  species  have  been  pro- 
duced. 4th,  That  the  most  ancient  fossil  remains, 
that  is,  those  farthest  down  in  the  rocks,  of  plants,  in- 
sects, mollusks,  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  beasts,   are 


ADMISSIONS   OF   GEOLOGISTS.  205 

as  perfect  in  their  several  kinds  as  their  survivors  of 
the  present  day :  And  Oth,  That  whole  genera  and 
species,  as  well  as  individuals  of  plants  and  animals, 
which  survived  the  fossiliferous  period,  have  become 
extinct  within  the  modern  period  of  physical  and  civil 
history  ? 

That  there  are  facts  disclosed  by  geological  research 
which,  in  certain  relations,  are  utterly  inexplicable  to 
us,  no  one  who  has  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject can  hesitate  to  acknowledge — facts  which  it  is 
neither  within  the  province  of  science  nor  of  Scripture 
to  explain.  But  they  are,  as  facts  relating  to  physical 
phenomena,  not  in  themselves  more  wonderful  or  more 
inscrutable,  than  other  facts  which  relate  solely  to 
moral  and  spiritual  phenomena.  A  natural  philoso- 
pher, excluding  from  his  view  the  records  of  inspira- 
tion, can  no  more  explain  or  account  for  the  facts  of 
the  moral  world,  than  the  same  philosopher,  shutting 
his  eyes  to  all  but  the  lights  of  science,  can  explain  or 
account  for  the  facts  of  the  physical  world.  The  two 
sets  of  facts  are,  in  original  and  manifold  relations, 
so  involved  with  each  other,  that  neither  can  be  ex- 
plained separately.  The  reason  why  the  Creator  gov- 
erns the  physical  world  by  a  method  of  general  laws, 
mechanical,  chemical,  &c,  was  not  that  such  laws 
were  necessary  either  to  the  existence  or  the  govern- 
ment of  physical  nature.     They  are  not  properties  of 


206  THE   EPOCH    OF   CREATION. 

matter,  for  if  they  were,  each  of  them  would  necessa- 
rily be  common  to  all  the  rest.  There  could  be  no 
diversity  of  effects,  nor  indeed  any  changes,  or  any 
chemistry.  The  force  of  each  property  would,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  others,  be  the  same  under  all  conditions. 
The  effect  of  a  contact  of  oxygen  with  any  other  pro- 
perty would  be  the  same  as  that  of  contact  with  car- 
bon. They  are  not  of  the  nature  of  matter.  They 
are  but  the  rules  and  method  of  his  efficiency  ;  and 
the  reason  of  them,  and  of  their  being  just  what  they 
are,  in  respect  to  their  uniformity,  universality,  and 
force,  lies  in  the  high  moral  purposes  and  ends  for 
which  He  created  and  governs  the  world. 

The  assumption,  which  appears  to  have  the  most 
powerful  and  extensive  influence  on  the  minds  of  geo- 
logists in  leading  them  to  adopt  their  theory  of  the 
high  antiquity  of  the  globe,  is  that  the  sedimentary 
masses  were  formed,  and  their  fossil  relics  buried,  by 
the  ordinary  operation  of  the  laws  of  matter.  Physi- 
cal science  exhibits  to  their  observation  no  other  causes. 
In  reasoning  about  the  results,  they  regard  them  as 
the  only  causes.  They  exclude  from  their  view  all 
supernatural  interference.  They  leave  out  of  their 
consideration  the  moral  government  of  the  Creator, 
and  the  moral  reasons  and  purposes  which  He  assigns 
for  creating  the  world  and  interposing  to  change  its 
physical  condition.     However  much  they  may  regard 


GEOLOGICAL   ASSUMPTIONS.  207 

those  things  in  other  relations,  they  do  not  belong  to 
their  science,  or  to  their  field  of  research  as  geologists  ; 
and  the  whole  difficulty  in  relation  to  the  narratives 
inspired  by  the  Creator,  arises  not  from  the  facts  of 
geology  in  themselves,  but  wholly  from  the  restricted 
scientific  view  of  them  considered  as  having  been 
caused  by  mere  natural  physical  properties  or  laws, 
which  the  geologists  take,  and  the  inferences  which 
they  deduce  from  these  views. 

Doubtless,  no  rational  creature  can  behold  the  vast 
masses  of  sedimentary  matter,  which  to  a  great  depth 
constitute  the  crust  of  the  globe,  or  inspect  in  detail 
the  wonders  which  they  exhibit,  and  believe  at  the 
same  time  that  the  whole  of  those  masses  with  their 
fossil  contents,  were  deposited  by  the  slow,  uniform, 
unaided,  operation  of  physical  laws,  without  inferring 
at  once  that  the  process  must  have  occupied  im- 
measurable periods  of  duration.  But  before  he  can 
make  that  inference,  and  as  the  sole  ground  of  it,  he 
must  first  assume  that  those  sedimentary  masses  were 
formed  by  the  physical  causes  and  in  the  manner  re- 
presented. Of  that  assumption,  however,  he  can  ad- 
duce no  positive  evidence  whatever  ;  nor  anything  but 
an  inference  from  the  fact,  that  at  present  the  opera- 
tion of  those  causes  is  slow,  uniform,  and  unaided  : 
and  he  therefore  infers  that  it  always  was  so.  An 
admission  that  for  moral  reasons,  a  different,  a  super- 


208  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

natural  process,  may  have  been  interposed  by  the 
Creator  and  moral  governor  of  the  world,  would  pre- 
clude his  inference,  and  destroy  the  basis  of  his  main 
assumption,  and  of  the  theory  founded  on  it. 

But  waiving  such  admission  of  moral  reasons  and 
supernatural  operations,  he  clings  to  his  main  assump- 
tion, and  makes  it  the  basis  of  various  other  assump- 
tions involved  in  his  theory  :  Such  as,  that  if  the 
formation  of  the  sedimentary  masses  occupied  an  im- 
measurable tract  of  ages,  their  object  must  have  been 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  planet  and  render  it 
habitable ;  that  the  earth,  therefore,  must  originally 
have  been  in  a  most  imperfect  condition  ;  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  theory  of  some,  it  was  in  a  state  of  igneous 
fluidity  ;  and  according  to  others,  that  it  was  a  shape- 
less mass  of  nebular  matter  ;  that  since  none  of  these 
things  could  possibly  be  true,  if  the  heavens,  the  earth, 
the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  were  created,  and 
created  perfect  in  the  space  of  six  days,  at  the  Mosaic 
epoch  ;  therefore,  they  were  not  created  at  that  epoch  ; 
that  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  therefore,  does  not  be- 
long to  the  narrative  of  the  six  days  ;  that  the  work 
of  those  six  days  was  not  a  creation,  but  a  special  fit- 
ting up  of  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  earth:  that  the 
Sabbath,  therefore,  was  not  instituted  as  a  sign,  memo- 
rial, or  periodical  public  acknowledgment  and  attesta- 
tion that  in  six  days  the  Jehovah  made  the  heavens 


OPPOSITION   TO     GEOLOGIC     THEORIES.  209 

and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  but  was  in- 
stituted for  some  other  purpose. 

None  of  these  assumptions  admit  of  any  positive 
evidence,  whether  taken  separately  or  collectively  ;  and 
they  are,  one  and  all,  utterly  baseless  and  preposte- 
rous, unless  the  main  assumption  at  their  head  is  un- 
equivocally admitted. 

We  are  entitled,  therefore,  when  told  that  the  science 
of  geology  is  in  conflict  with  revelation,  to  deny  it, 
and  to  reply,  that  it  is  not  the  science,  its  facts, 
or  any  legitimate  inductions  from  them,  but  only 
the  gratuitous  assumptions  of  the  geologists  that 
are  in  such  conflict.  It  would  be  as  legitimate 
to  infer,  as  some  do,  from  the  facts  of  geology, 
that  the  earth  was  eternal,  as  to  infer  that  the 
physical  laws  or  properties  of  matter,  were  ex- 
clusively the  cause  of  those  facts. 

The  geologists,  while  they  take  the  liberty  to 
make  quite  free  with  the  text  of  Scripture,  and  with 
its  miracles,  as  appears  from  the  specimens  of  their 
expositions  heretofore  quoted,  — complain  loudly  of 
those  who  call  their  theories  in  question,  on  the 
ground  that  they  are  not  practical  geologists,  and, 
therefore,  cannot  be  qualified  to  perform  the  of- 
fice of  objectors :  as  if  a  practical  knowledge  of 
facts  and  details  which  they  do  not  dispute,  would 
be  of  any  use  to  enable  them  to  controvert  what  they 


210  THE   EPOCH   OF  CKEATION. 

do  dispute.  They  are  especially  impatient  of  theolo- 
gical assailants,  for  reasoning  from  a  non-geolo- 
gical book,  and  arraying  moral  facts  and  revealed 
doctrines  against  their  hypothetical  inferences.  They 
forget  that  the  doctrines  of  Revelation,  and  the  in- 
ferences deduced  from  the  facts  of  the  moral  world, 
are  far  more  certain,  and  of  far  higher  authority 
than  the  theories  inferred  from  the  phenomena  of 
the  physical  world.  And  they  likewise  seem  to 
forget  that  in  so  far  as  there  are  known  and 
adequate  moral  reasons  for  any  physical  phenome- 
na, diverse  from  the  geologic  reasons,  the  bearing 
of  those  moral  reasons  may  be  urged  with  as 
much  propriety  by  one  who  has  not,  as  by  one 
who  has  devoted  his  life  to  the  study  of  geolo- 
gy. It  is  not  against  geological  facts  that  such 
opposition  will  array  itself,  but  only  against  pre- 
posterous, unscientific,  and  unscriptural  assumptions 
and  inferences  from  those  facts.  The  facts  are  not 
denied  or  doubted.  It  is  the  causes  of  the  facts,  or  the 
mode  and  object  of  their  causation,  that  challenges  en- 
quiry and  dissent.  Were  the  geologists  content  with 
what  strictly  belongs  to  their  science,  the  study  and 
arrangement  of  geologic  facts  with  their  observed  con- 
nections and  relations,  no  one  would  have  cause  to  find 
fault  with  them,  or  to  diminish  aught  from  the  admi- 
ration due  to  their  mental  and   physical  labors,  their 


GEOLOGIC    PRETENSIONS.  211 

diligence,  their  perseverance,  their  achievements,  and 
their  fame. 

But  geology  is  not  everything.  It  has  comparatively 
but  a  narrow  and  limited  province.  Its  progress  as  a 
science  has  been  abundantly  rapid  ;  but  it  is  not  yet 
old  or  mature  enough  to  assume  to  sway  its  fossil 
trident  over  the  realms  of  matter,  and  also  over  the 
domains  of  life,  and  the  empire  of  moral  and  spiritual 
natures,  causes,  agencies,  and  events.  Other  subjects 
and  provinces  of  knowledge  there  are,  which  have 
been  longer  studied  and  are  better  settled  than  geolo- 
gy can  claim  to  be ;  and  which  are  not  to  be  uncere- 
moniously motioned  aside,  and  treated  as  old  wives' 
fables,  by  that  young  aspirant,  armed  though  he  be 
with  fossil  bones,  and  shielded  by  the  mask  of  a  pre- 
ternatural antiquity.  « 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Theory  of  the  Creation,  at  first,  of  only  the  Primordial  Elements  of 
things,  considered. 

At  present  it  is  a  favorite  notion  with  many  geolo- 
gists which  they  employ  in  aid  of  their  hypothesis  con- 
cerning the  remote  epoch  of  creation,  that  only  the 
primordial  elements  of  matter  were  at  first  produced. 
The  creation  of  the  heavens  and  earth  announced  in  the 
first  verse  of  Genesis,  they  suppose  to  have  been  a  crea- 
tion only  of  those  elements,  and  since  those  elements 
cannot  act  each  separately  upon  itself,  nor  any  two  of 
them  upon  each  other  until  they  are  brought  into  contact, 
their  existence  separately  at  first,  would  form  a  very 
suitable  starting  point  of  a  theory  of  changes,  develop- 
ments, progress,  and  improvement,  when  they  were 
brought  into  the  necessary  contact  and  relations,  as  the 
moulding  of  the  earth  into  an  oblate  spheroid,  the 
formation  of  its  crust  and  the  subsequent  provision 
and  arrangement  of  its  sedimentary  matter,  gave  occa- 
sion. That  all  this  progress  and  these  changes,  should 
be  the  result  of  the   chemical  properties  originally  in- 


CREATION    OF   SIMPLE   ELEMENTS.  213 

herent,  though  dormant,  in  the  separate  elements  ; 
and  that  the  physical  world  as  it  now  is,  has  in  this 
manner  come  to  be  what  it  is,  seems  to  many  to  be  a 
very  beautiful  notion,  and  worthy  to  excite  our  special 
wonder  and  admiration  at  the  works  of  nature.  Those 
elements  are  now  everywhere  combined  in  the  physical 
substances  within  our  observation.  But  chemistry 
shows  us  that  they  may  be  separated  and  resolved  into 
their  single  and  dormant  condition  as  elements ;  and 
hence  the  most  simple  idea  of  a  creation  is  that  of  a 
production  of  these  elements  uncornbined.  And  this 
idea  is  thought  to  be  philosophical ;  it  being  assumed 
that  when  combined  or  brought  into  contact  in  their 
proper  relations,  they  would  operate  all  the  results 
exhibited  in  the  phenomena  of  the  earth. 

Whether  any  chemical  process  has  as  yet  reached 
the  last  analysis  of  any  one  of  those  elements,  no  one 
can  tell.  If  not,  the  heavens  and  the  earth  may  at 
first,  according  to  this  hypothesis,  have  consisted  only 
of  gases  a  thousand  times  more  subtle  than  any  hith- 
erto detected ;  and  by  the  same  rule,  the  more  subtle, 
the  more  simple  the  idea  of  their  creation.  How  they 
first  began  to  come  into  contact  so  as  to  act  upon  each 
other  and  set  on  foot  the  career  of  improvement,  the 
theory  does  not  explain.  But  it  is  easy  to  imagine 
that  a  vast  length  of  time  would  be  required  to  bring 
the  earth  into  a  solid,  ponderable,  and  useful  form. 


214  THE    EPOCH    OP    CREATION. 

If  this  was  the  mode  of  creation,  and  all  organic 
and  inorganic  natures  are  the  products  of  this  chemis- 
try, then  when  we  read   in  the  narrative  of  the  "  six 
days"  that  the  Creator  said  "  Let  there  be  light,  and 
there  was  light"  we  are  to  understand  that  these  pri- 
mordial elements,  having  been  created  long  before,  were 
now  brought  into  contact,  co-action,  or  combination  so 
as  to  constitute  light.    And  where  it  is  said,  "  That  God 
created  great  whales  and  every   living  creature  that 
moveth  in  the  waters — and  every  winged  fowl  after  his 
kind — and  made  the  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind, 
and  cattle  after  their  kind,  and  every  creeping  thing 
after  his  kind — and  created  man  in  his  own  image — 
and  made  every  plant  of  the  field  before  it  was  in  the 
earth — and  in  the  day  that  the  Lord  (rod  made  the 
earth  and  the  heavens  ;"  we  must  understand  that  he 
created   the    primordial    elements    of    those    organic 
natures  at  the   indefinitely  remote  epoch  prior  to   the 
six  days  which  is  assumed  to  be  referred  to  in  the  first 
verse.      From   that  epoch  they  existed  in  thesi.     The 
great  laboratory  of  elements  having  in  the  mean  time 
condensed   and  moulded  the  planet  into   its   globular 
form  and  generated  tempests  from  above  and  beneath, 
to  change,  distort,  and   improve,  and  fit  it  up  for  such 
creatures,  they  accordingly  in  the  "  six  days"  of  Moses 
burst    forth    into    life.     Simple,   beautiful  process    of 
Nature  ;   requiring  no  perplexing  references  to  moral 


HOW   WERE   THE    ELEMENTS    COMBINED  ?  215 

natures,  reasons, .purposes,  or  government;  requiring 
no  providence  but  that  of  the  general  laws,  properties, 
or  tendencies  inherent  in  the  primary  elements,  and 
worthy  to  be  the  invention  of  fallen  man. 

Now  let  it  be  considered  that  these  primordial 
elements,  supposing  them  to  have  been  created  sepa- 
rately or  uncombined,  could  not  by  the  laws  which 
science  recognizes  as  governing  them,  produce  any 
mechanical  or  chemical  action  upon  each  other,  or 
operate  any  results  whatever,  except  as  those  of  them 
which  were  capable  of  mechanical  combination,  or  had 
a  chemical  affinity  for  each  other,  were  brought  into 
contact  under  certain  conditions. 

If  they  were  created  separately  and  uncombined, 
then  they  might  have  continued  to  exist  separately, 
and  have  maintained  in  their  dormant  state  the  same 
proportions  of  quantity  to  each  other  which  they  now 
possess. 

In  that  case  when  they  began  to  come  into  contact, 
and  to  act  on  each  other,  what  was  it  that  determined 
the  proportions  in  which  they  should  unite  ?  Nut 
the  laws  themselves  by  which  they  mechanically 
or  chemically  combine  when  brought  together.  It  is 
the  province  of  those  laws  merely  to  work  the  effect  of 
contact,  not  to  regulate  the  proportions  or  quantities 
of  elements   coming  together.     All  beyond   the   mere 


216  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

physical  effect  of  contact  must  be  owing  to  an  extra- 
neous cause. 

In  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere,  for  example, 
how  happens  it  that  oxygen  and  nitrogen  are  united  in 
the  proportions  of  twenty-one  to  seventy-nine  ?     Science 
can  show  that  in   respect  to  their   relative  quantities, 
these  proportions  exist  on  the  highest  mountains  as  well 
as   near   the   earth,  but  it  is   not  in   the   laws   which 
govern  these  elements  to  determine  these  or  any  other 
proportions.  The  two  elements  may  be  entirely  separat- 
ed, and  they  may  be  united  in  any  other  proportions. 
Undoubtedly,  if  united  in  any  other  relative  proportions 
they  would  not  constitute  an  atmosphere  fit  for  respi- 
ration, or  for  that  chemical  operation  by  which  the  life 
and  growth  of  plants  is  carried  on.     But  still  the  fact 
of  their  existing  in  the  atmosphere  in  those  proportions 
is  in  no  degree  due  to  the  laws  inherent  in  them,  but 
considered  in  relation  to  those  laws,  is  a  supernatural 
fact,  a  miracle.     The   primordial  elements,  had   they 
been  created  separately,  and  then  left  to  themselves, 
would  have  remained  forever  separate.     Left  to  them- 
selves, notwithstanding  their  inherent  powers  or  capa- 
bilities of  reciprocal   action,   they   would   never   have 
united,  either  in  right  proportions  or  in  any  proportions. 
To  suppose  the  contrary  is  to  suppose  them   endowed 
with  vitality  and  intelligence.     A  power  as  foreign  and 
as   superior   to   them   as   that   by   which  they  were 


DISTINCT   ELEMENTARY   SUBSTANCKS.  217 

created,  would  be  necessary  to  bring  them  into  those 
adjustments  and  relations  with  each  other  which  would 
be  necessary  to  produce  such  results  as  actually  appear 
in  the  existing  phenomena  of  the  earth  and  its  atmo- 
sphere. That  is,  a  constant  miracle,  equal  to  that  of 
the  creation,  or  rather  an  infinite  variety  of  constant 
miracles  would  be  necessary  to  render  the  earth  habita- 
ble and  continue  it  so.  Is  it  owing  to  a  conviction  of 
this  that  the  geologists,  with  all  their  knowledge  of 
chemistry,  botany,  zoology,  mineralogy,  and  other 
sciences,  and  notwithstanding  the  confidence  with 
which  they  teach  us  how  the  sedimentary  masses 
were  formed,  and  how  their  materials  were  derived, 
from  crystalline  rocks,  have  none  of  them  attempted  to 
show  how,  either  the  atmosphere  or  the  salt  waters  of 
the  ocean,  or  the  fresh  waters  of  the  earth  were  con- 
stituted of  the  primordial  elements  into  which  they 
are  severally  resolvable  ?  or  where  those  primordial 
elements  previously  existed  ? 

Experimental  chemistry  has  distinguished  about 
fifty-five  elementary  or  undecomposed  substances,  or 
modifications  of  matter.  About  half  of  these  arc 
designated  as  metallic,  and  the  other  half  as  non- 
metallic.  The  two  classes  have,  under  appropriate  cir- 
cumstances or  adjustments,  a  chemical  affinity  for 
each  other,  which  is  more  or  less  realized  and  notice- 
able in  all  instances  of  combination  in  the  earth,  and 
10 


218  THE   EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

in  all  instances  of  organization  in  plants  and  animals. 
There  is,  however,  a  vast  inequality  in  the  distribution 
of  them.  Some  eight  or  ten  of  them  constitute  the 
bulk  of  the  atmosphere,  the  earth,  and  all  plants  and 
animals.  The  atmosphere  is  made  up  of  two  of  them, 
oxygen  and  nitrogen  ;  with  a  trace  or  comparatively 
small  portion  only  of  two  others,  carbon  and  hydrogen, 
the  carbon  being  in  proportion  to  the  whole  as  one  to 
two  thousand,  and  the  hydrogen  or  vapor  of  water 
varying  in  quantity  with  the  temperature. 

These  constituents  of  the  atmosphere  are  mechanically 
mingled,  not  chemically  combined.  When  one  of  the 
most,  and  one  of  the  least  abundant  of  them,  oxygen 
and  hydrogen,  are  chemically  combined  they  constitute 
water ;  and  in  this  form  they  occupy  about  three 
fourths  of  the  surface  of  the  globe. 

The  solid  earth  is  chiefly  made  up  of  the  oxides  of  one 
non-metallic  body,  silicum  ;  and  two  metals,  aluminium, 
and  calcium  the  metallic  base  of  lime.  Add  to  these 
potassium,  sodium,  and  iron,  and  we  have  all  the  known 
components  of  the  earth  which  enter  in  considerable 
quantities  into  its  composition.  Sulphur,  magnesium, 
and  some  others  exist  in  local  deposits  here  and  there ; 
while  a  large  number  of  the  elementary  bodies  are  to 
be  found  only  in  rare  minerals,  or  so  sparsely  diffused 
as  barely  to  be  detected. 

In  the  organic  world,  the  four  elements  which  con- 


MIXTURE   OF   ELEMENTS — IIOW   CAUSED?  219 

stitute  the  atmosphere,  are  the  principal  ;  besides 
which  there  is  a  minute  proportion  of  phosphorus  and 
of  sulphur,  and  a  still  less  proportion  of  two  or  three 
alkalies  and  earthy  salts  ;  the  combination  of  the 
whole  being  chemical. 

Substances  possessing  properties  of  the  most  diverse 
and  opposite  kind,  are  made  up  of  the  same  elementary 
materials  ;  as  sugar  and  vinegar,  for  example,  from 
carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  slightly  differing  in  the 
proportions  in  which  they  are  combined.  Bread  is 
nutritious  and  healthful,  owing  to  a  combination  in 
due  proportions  of  the  same  elements,  which,  combined 
in  other  proportions,  produce  the  poisonous  juice  of  the 
poppy.  The  slightest  difference  in  the  relative  propor- 
tions of  the  elements  of  which  such  compounds  consist, 
may  occasion  widely  various  results. 

Suppose  then  the  primordial  elements  to  have  been 
created  separately,  and  ready  fur  the  operation 
of  the  laws  mechanical  and  chemical,  which  govern 
their  various  mixtures  and  combinations.  It  is  palpa- 
ble that  those  laws  do  not  in  any  degree  control  the 
circumstances  or  conditions  under  which  they  shall  be 
adjusted  to  each  other  so  as  to  unite  mechanically  or 
chemically,  nor  the  proportions  of  different  elements 
which  shall  under  any  given  circumstances  be  brought 
into  the  requisite  contact  or  relation.  If  brought  into 
the  necessary  relation  by  gravitation  or  motion,  or  by 


220  TELE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

any  physical  cause,  their  proportions  of  quantity  to 
each  other  would  still  be  undetermined  and  uncon- 
trolled. 

In  the  atmosphere,  for  instance,  the  due  composition 
of  which  in  respect  to   the  relative  proportions  of  its 
elements,  is  equally  essential  to  the  existence  of  plants 
and    animals ;     a    different    relative    quantity    of  the 
respective  elements,  or   a  different  mode  of  mixture, 
would  have  been  fatal.     Had  the  whole  quantity  of 
the  respective  elements  been  the  same  as  now,  yet  if  the 
relatively  small  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  had  not  been 
equally  diffused,  the  result  would  not  have  been  such 
an  atmosphere  as  we  now   possess.     The  two  leading 
elements,  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  are  specifically  lighter 
than  carbon,  and  had  gravitation  controlled  the  position 
of  the    latter  element  in    its   relation   to   the   others, 
it    would     have     formed     a    stratum    by     itself,    of 
poisonous,  irrespirablc  gas,  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
to  the  height  of  about  thirteen  feet.     Again,  nitrogen 
is  lighter   than   oxygen,  and  had   gravitation  decided 
the   position    of   the  latter,   it   would    have  formed  a 
stratum  of  irrespirable  and  inflammable  gas  about  two 
miles  in  depth  over  the  carbon. 

The  theory,  therefore,  dues  not  provide  for  such 
results,  or  such  a  state  of  things  as  actually  exists  in 
the  atmosphere,  or  in  any  other  department  of  physical 
nature.     It  dors  not  provide  for  the  due  proportionate 


COMPOSITION   OF   THE    ATMOSPHERE.  221 

adjustment  of  the  primordial  elements,  supposing  them 
to  have  been  created  separately,  nor  for   the   continu- 
ance or  permanence  of  any  combination,  whether  in 
the  atmosphere  or  the  earth,  when  formed.     It  needs 
to  a   far  greater  extent  than  the  Scripture  doctrine  of 
the  creation  of  the    heavens  and   earth  in  a   perfect 
state,  the  constant  agency  of  the  Creator  in  respect  to 
every  department,  every  item,  and  every  condition  of 
his  physical  works.     For  in  the  one  case  the  requisite 
proportions   and    combinations   were    established    and 
perfected  at  the  outset,  while  in  the  other  they  were 
left  to  occupy   incalculable    periods  of  duration.     In 
order  to  the  production  of  such  results  as  exist  in  the 
composition  of   the    atmosphere,    the    earth,  and    the 
organized  forms  of  existence,  there  must  be   a  perfect 
adaptation  and   adjustment  to  each  other,   of  the   re- 
quisite  elements  in    respect   to    their  properties  and 
quantities,  and  in  the  relation  of  the  bodies  constituted, 
in  respect  to  both  space  and  time.     And  the  perfections 
of  the  Creator,  as  exhibited  in   his  works  of  creation, 
surely  require  us  to  regard  those  works  in  the  perfect 
adjustments    and    combinations    which    pervade    the 
realms  of  nature    and  give  stability  and  beauty  to  the 
material  and  visible  universe,  and  render  it  suitable  to 
be  the  scene  of  his   moral  administration,  and   of  the 
agency  of  his  rational  and  accountable  creatures. 
This  theory  of  primordial  elements,  and  of  the  pro. 


222  THE   EPOCH   OF   CEEATION. 

duction  from  them,  by  the  operation  of  their  laws,  "  of 
all  the  forms  and  changes  of  organic  and  inorganic 
nature,"  past,  present,  and  future,  as  promulgated  in 
this  age  of  chemical  science,  is  puerile  and  contempti- 
ble, compared  with  the  fortuitous  combination  of 
atoms  or  elements  conceived  of  by  a  Grecian  sage  more 
than  two  thousand  years  ago  ;  or  with  the  quality  of 
circular  motion  imagined  by  Des  Cartes  before  the 
laws  of  chemistry  were  known  to  be  inherent  in  the 
particles  of  matter,  and  productive  of  the  phenomena 
of  the  physical  world. 

In  presence  of  this  theory  of  elements,  what  has 
heretofore  been  called  natural  theology,  must  resign 
its  pretensions.  For  on  this  theory  the  argument  of 
design  must  be  restricted  to  what  takes  place  in  the 
laboratory  of  nature.  If  there  was  any  design  in 
creating  elements  with  certain  properties  the  operation 
of  which  we  call  laws,  then,  so  far  as  any  inferences 
from  the  results  can  be  made  on  this  theory,  the  design 
was  limited  to  that  operation.  For  the  properties  in 
question  can  operate  only  in  certain  fixed  and  unalter- 
able modes,  and  can  only  produce  certain  fixed  and 
uniform  results ;  when  they  have  combined  and  operated 
their  work  is  done  and  their  power  exhausted.  Cer- 
tain physical  changes  have  been  produced,  by  certain 
physical  causes ;  all  which  might  just  as  well  happen 
if  nothing  more  was  to  follow,  (and  according  to  the 


LIMITED   SPHERE   OF   CHEltflSTRY.  223 

theory  in  question,  nothing  more  did  follow  for  myriads 
of  ages)  as  if  an  endless  series  of  other  things  of  other 
natures  were  to  be  produced  by  other  causes.  And  if 
the  causes  of  geological  phenomena  which  science  ob- 
serves, exist  in  the  elements  of  matter,  and  the  results 
are  ascribed  to  the  operations  of  those  causes,  science 
will  reject  the  supposition  of  any  other  cause,  physical 
or  Divine,  as  unnecessary  and  unphilosophical ;  and 
on  that  theory  natural  theology  can  make  no  inference 
in  relation  to  a  supreme,  intelligent,  first  cause.  It 
may  be  condescendingly  admitted  that  the  primordial 
elements  may  have  been  created  by  such  a  first  cause ; 
but  the  theory  is  quite  as  complete  without,  as  with 
such  admission.  All  that  the  theory  requires  is,  the 
fact  that  such  simple  elements  exist ;  that  in  certain 
conditions  and  relations  they  will  operate  ;  and  that 
their  operation,  time  enough  being  granted,  will  pro- 
duce the  physical  phenomena  which  the  geologist  ob- 
serves. Many,  however,  adopt  this  theory,  who  would 
be  shocked  at  the  idea  of  their  being  thought  deficient 
of  reverence  for  the  Creator,  or  for  the  revelation  He 
has  made. 

How  different  would  be  the  conclusion,  if  arguing 
without  any  reference  to  what  is  revealed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  first  assumed  that  there  is  an  infinite,  self- 
existent  Being,  possessed  of  all  possible  perfections  ; 
that  He  is  the  Creator  of  this  and  of  all  worlds  and 


224  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

creatures  ;  that  He  exerted  His  creative  power  solely 
for  moral  reasons  and  purposes,  and  made  the  material 
world  as  a  stage  or  scene  for  the  manifestation  of  His 
perfections,  the  emanations  of  His  goodness,  the  ad- 
ministration of  His  moral  government,  the  exhibition 
of  His  works  of  providence  and  grace  :  And,  that,  being 
absolutely  perfect,  and  acting  according  to  His  perfec- 
tions, all  His  works,  of  whatever  description,  must  ne- 
cessarily be  perfect  in  their  kinds,  and  according  to 
their  several  natures :  Should  we  not,  in  that  case,  in- 
fer of  course  and  without  hesitation  that  since  the 
globe  as  a  scene  of  such  administration,  would  be  bet- 
ter fitted  and  more  perfect  by  having  its  material  ele- 
ments united  and  combined  in  such  manner  and  degree 
as  to  require  no  changes  in  order  to  its  utmost  perfec- 
tion, than  by  having  its  elements  in  their  crude  sepa- 
rate state,  so  as  to  require  an  endless  series  of  opera- 
tions to  combine  and  bring  them  into  the  destined  con- 
dition of  the  fabric ; — should  we  not  unavoidably  infer, 
that  the  earth  as  created  was  perfect,  and  had  its 
elements  in  a  perfect  state  of  combination  ?  Would 
not  a  contrary  supposition  grossly  detract  from  our  idea 
of  the  perfections  and  purposes  of  the  Creator  ? 

And  if,  on  examining  the  earth,  we  found  it  on  and 
beneath  the  surface,  teeming  with  evidences  of  change, 
its  materials  confused  and  distorted  like  a  mass  of 
ruins,  its  interior  a  charnel  house  of  relics  of  organic 


GEOLOGIC   THEORIES   ABSURD.  225 

natures,  should  we  not  with  equal  confidence  infer, 
that  these  phenomena  had  been  caused  subsequently 
to  its  creation  and  its  primeval  state  of  perfection  ? — 
And  that  they  had  been  caused  for  reasons  not  founded 
in  the  nature  or  the  original  condition  and  purpose  of 
the  earth,  but  founded  in  some  infraction  or  obstruc- 
tion of  that  purpose  ?  And  if  next,  we  examined  the 
phenomena  of  man  as  a  moral  and  accountable  agent, 
his  manifest  declension  from  a  perfect  state,  the  cor- 
ruption of  his  heart,  the  depravity  of  his  will,  his  dis- 
ordered affections,  his  evil  passions,  his  evil  conduct, 
his  debasement,  his  boding  fears,  his  misery,  his  pains, 
sicknesses,  and  death,  should  we  not  conclude,  that  on 
account  of  his  defection  and  consequently  of  a  neces- 
sary change  of  his  destiny,  the  Creator  had  blighted 
the  earth,  filled  it  with  relics  and  monuments  of  his 
displeasure,  and  rendered  it  suitable  to  be  the  habita- 
tion of  man  in  his  fallen  state  ? 

Suppose  now  a  Pythagoras  or  a  Socrates  to  have 
groped  his  way  thus  far,  by  the  lights  of  nature,  and 
then  to  have  been  furnished  with  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  to  have  received  them  with  confi- 
dence and  faith  ;  would  he  not  behold  there  a  plain, 
consistent,  and  ample  account  of  the  whole  matter, 
confirmatory  and  essentially  conformable  to  his  pre- 
vious conclusions  ?  Would  not  his  reverence  of  the 
all-perfect  Creator,  withhold  him  from  imputing  to 
10* 


226  THE   EPOCH   OF  CREATION. 

that  Being  the  creation  of  imperfect,  incomplete,  in- 
congruous works,  which  time  and  change  had  not  re- 
medied, and  which  no  conceivable  amount  of  physical 
changes  could  ever  render  perfect.  Would  he  not 
say,  I  might  as  well  ascribe  perfection  to  a  builder 
who  without  even  deciding  the  plan,  dimensions,  or 
object  of  his  mansion,  should  merely  plant  the  seeds 
of  trees,  which,  in  course  of  time,  might  furnish  timber 
for  its  frame  work  ;  or  to  a  treatise  of  philosophy 
towards  the  writing  of  which  the  author  had  proceed- 
ed no  further  than  to  select  the  forms  of  the  letters  of 
the  language  to  be  instituted  and  employed  by  him  in 
his  composition  ?  or  to  a  machine,  the  inventor  of 
which  had  only  selected  the  materials  to  be  employed 
in  its  construction  ?  And  would  he  not  recoil  from 
saying  with  Doctor  Backland,  in  his  Bridgewater 
Treatise  :  "  If  geology  should  seem  to  require  some 
little  concession  from  the  literal  interpreter  of  Scrip- 
ture, it  may  fairly  be  held  to  afford  ample  compensa- 
tion for  this  demand,  by  the  large  additions  it  has 
made  to  the  evidences  of  natural  religion  ?n 

What  should  we  think  of  a  philosopher,  who,  in  or- 
der to  obtain  a  clearer,  more  simple,  and  more  pro- 
found impression,  of  the  grandeur  and  poetic  beauty 
of  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  than  could  be  derived 
from  it  in  its  existing  form  as  a  literary  composition, 
— should  before  perusing  it,  request  the  printer  to  fur- 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  227 

nish  him  with  the  physical  elements,  the  metallic  let- 
ters, the  vowels,  the  consonants,  the  diphthongs,  the 
marks  of  interpunction,  and  all  the  other  visible  consti- 1 
tuents  combined  in  the  words  and  sentences  of  the 
poem,  that  he  might  judge  of  the  work,  by  studying 
its  primordial  elements  ;  and  from  the  mode  in  which 
he  found  them  capable  of  being  combined  by  an  eupho- 
nical collocation  of  the  types,  should  infer  a  theory  of 
the  mode  in  which  the  sightless  poet  had  constructed 
his  wonderful  Epic :  And  having  thus  obtained  what 
appeared  to  him  to  be  a  glimpse  of  the  genius  of 
poetry,  should  regard  his  theory  of  elementary,  typo- 
graphical composition,  as  the  only  thing  of  importance 
to  be  contended  for  in  relation  to  the  origin,  perfection, 
meaning,  purpose,  or  end,  of  a  poem  ?  Should  we 
not  conclude,  that  he  was  addled  and  infatuated  by 
his  hypothesis  to  such  a  degree,  that  if  Milton  were 
alive  and  should  make  oath  that  he  neither  proceeded 
upon  the  alleged  theory,  nor  could  in  any  way  admit 
or  sanction  it,  he  would,  in  the  sullenness  of  pride  and 
vanity,  refuse  to  believe  him  ! 


CHAPTER     IX. 

No  theory  of  the  mode  of  Causation  necessary  to  the  credit  of  Revela- 
tion, or  to  our  faith  in  it. — The  possibility  of  the  former  Continents 
with  their  Animal  and  Vegetable  races,  having  been  merged  and  sus- 
pended in  the  waters  of  the  Deluge,  and  transferred  to  the  bed  of  the 
former  seas,  and  there  deposited  in  the  existing  strata,  considered. 

Neither  the  credit  of  Revelation  itself,  nor  the  faith 
of  those  who  believe  in  it,  demands  any  such  theory 
as  the  geologists  furnish,  or  any  other  theory,  or  at- 
tempt to  explain  the  mode  of  producing  the  changes 
which  the  phenomena  of  the  earth  exhibit.  And  if 
the  Scriptures  do  not  inform  us  of  moral  reasons  for 
those  changes  we  must  be  content  to  be  ignorant  as  te 
why,  or  how,  they  were  produced.  It  is  not  in  man, 
nor  in  science  at  any  stage  of  its  advancement,  to  ex- 
plain how  they  were  operated,  or  to  assign  for  them 
reasons  worthy  of  the  Creator  whom  the  Scriptures 
reveal. 

But  if  any  explanation  derived  from  the  Scriptures 


OF  THE  NOAOHIO  DELUGE.  229 

themselves  were  called  for,  a  far  more  credible  and  sa- 
tisfactory one  than  that  of  the  geologists,  might  easily 
be  furnished.  The  only  catastrophe  affecting  the  con- 
dition of  the  whole  earth,  of  which  the  Scriptures  in- 
form us,  was  the  Noachic  Deluge.  For  that  visitation, 
however  great  its  extent  and  its  effects,  adequate  moral 
reasons  are  assigned. 

Now  let  it  be  considered  that  we  are  wholly  igno- 
rant as  to  what  was  the  condition  of  the  materials  of 
the  crust  of  the  globe  originally,  and  at  that  epoch. 
For  aught  that  we  know,  they  may  have  been  free 
from  rock  of  any  description,  to  the  depth  of  ten  miles 
or  more  ;  the  same  materials  which  are  now  separated 
into  different  mineral  beds  and  layers  may  have  been 
mixed  in  such  proportions  as  at  once  to  have  consti- 
tuted the  most  prolific  soil  for  the  growth  of  vegeta- 
tion and  the  support  of  animals  ;  and  to  be  dissolved, 
held  suspended  in  the  waters  of  the  deluge,  and  by 
chemical  processes,  separated,  precipitated,  and  petri- 
fied in  the  mineral  masses  which  now  exist.  As  now 
separated,  no  one  of  those  masses  is,  without  mixture 
with  others,  adapted  to  animal  or  vegetable  life.  In 
proportion  as  they  are  duly  mixed,  they  become  pro- 
ductive. And  for  aught  tljat  we  know,  they  may, 
when  perfectly  mixed,  originally,  and  during  the  ages 
preceding  the  deluge,  have  sustained  such  variety  and 
abundance   of  vegetable  and  animal  races,  as  at  the 


230  THE    EPOCH    OP    CREATION. 

epoch  of  that  visitation,  to  supply  all  the  fossil  remains 
which  geology  discovers  or  implies. 

This  theory,  if  it  be  one,  accounts  for  the  quantity  and 
the  universal  presence  of  water,  necessary  in  the  forma- 
tion of  each  and  every  one  of  the  sedimentary  deposits  ; 
for  the  distribution  and  intermixture  of  both  marine  and 
terrestrial  plants  and  animals  in  the  successive  beds 
or  strata  ;  for  the  marked  difference  in  the  mineral 
composition  of  the  different  beds,  which  no  other  theory 
pretends  in  any  degree  to  account  for  ;  and  finally  for 
the  otherwise  reasonless  and  unaccountable  changes  in 
the  geological  condition  of  the  earth  of  which  there  is 
such  abundant  and  resistless  evidence. 

And  admitting  all  that  the  geologists  tell  us  of  the 
most  imperfect  of  the  organic  races  being  lowest  down 
in  the  fossiliferous  beds  ;  what  can  be  more  obvious 
than  to  suppose  that  as  the  waters  of  the  deluge  rose, 
and  progressively  became  charged  with  sedimentary 
matter,  shell-fish  should  have  been  stifled  and  buried, 
before  the  placoids,  ganoids,  or  other  species  of  fish, 
fishes  before  reptiles,  reptiles  before  birds,  and  birds 
before  quadrupeds?  On  this  theory  such  order  of  de- 
position would  be  as  natural  and  obvious,  as  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  the  latest  geologic  hypothesis.  And  if  there 
are  particular  facts  which  this  theory  will  not  explain, 
they  are  facts  which  are  explainable  upon  no  theory 
yet  promulgated. 


SUCCESSION   OF   FOSSILS.  231 

The  principal  geological  writers  exhibit  to  us  tabu- 
lar charts,  classifying  and  noting  the  distribution  of 
the  fossil  relics  of  plants  and  animals  as  hitherto  dis- 
covered in  the  successive  sedimentary  formations  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest.  Taking  that  of  Professor 
Hitchcock  as  an  example,  we  find  in  the  lowest  fossili- 
ferous  group,  comprising  the  cambrian  and  the  silurian 
rocks;,  marine  shells,  molluscous,  radiated,  and  arti- 
culated animals,  and  fishes  ;  and  various  plants  both 
terrestrial  and  marine. 

In  the  next,  the  carboniferous  group,  the  same  variety 
of  plants,  with  the  addition  of  pines,  palms,  and  others  ; 
and  of  animals,  with  the  addition  of  fresh-water  shells, 
insects,  reptiles,  and  some  species  of  fishes. 

In  the  next,  the  red  sandstone  group,  while  the 
variety  prevailing  lower  down  seems  diminished,  thero 
is  an  addition  to  the  preceding  lists  of  birds,  tortoises, 
several  of  the  largest  species  of  reptiles,  and  of  fishes, 
and  some  species  of  plants. 

In  the  succeeding  groups,  the  oolite,  the  cretaceous, 
and  the  tertiary,  very  numerous  marine  and  terrestrial 
plants  and  animals  are  found  ;  the  land  animals  pre. 
vailing  chiefly  in  the  tertiary  formation,  towards  the 
superior  portion  of  which  the  deer,  the  horse,  the  ox, 
the  elephant,  mastodon,  and  other  of  the  largest  spe- 
cies of  quadrupeds  occur  ;  of  marine  animals,  the  dol- 


232  THE   EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

phin,  seal,  walrus,  and  others  ;  and  of  birds  the  peli- 
can, buzzard,  lark,  duck,  and  others. 

Such  lists   or  classifications  are  doubtless  imperfect, 
and   may  be   subject  to   revision  and  improvement  by 
further    discoveries.     Still  from   the    occurrence    and 
seeming  prevalence  for  the  most  part  of  the  least  per- 
fect classes  of  animals  in  the  lowest  fossiliferous  for- 
mations, the  more  perfect  higher  up,  and  the  most 
perfect,  especially   of  land    animals    in   the    highest 
portions,  the   geologists  deduce   very  important  infer- 
ences :    Such  as,  that  prior  to  the  first  inhumation  of 
animal  remains,  the  planet  was  in  so  imperfect  a  con- 
dition as  to  preclude  the  existence  of  animal  life  ;  that 
when  by  geological  changes,  the  washing  down  of  rocks, 
and  diffusion  of  sediment,  it  was  so  far  improved  as  to 
admit  of  organized    existences,   those    animals    were 
created  whose  relics  were  first  inhumed  ;  that  these, 
and  all  their  successors,  were   buried  by  the  gradual 
deposit  of  sedimentary  matter;    that  from   period   to 
period  as  the  earth  was  improved  in  its  condition,  new 
and  superior  races  of  plants  and  animals  were  created, 
and  each  in  turn  deposited  and  fossilized. 

These  inferences  depend  wholly  and  absolutely  upon 
the  assumption  that  the  sedimentary  beds  were  formed 
by  the  almost  imperceptibly  slow  aggregation  of  mat- 
ter derived  from  primitive  rocks,  and  consequently  that 
the  fossils  which  are  lowest  down  in  the  stratified  rocks 


GEOLOGIC   AND   DILUVIAN   PROCESSES.  233 

are  the  remains  of  plants  and  animals,  which  lived  at 
the  remote  period  when  the  sedimentary  process  had 
reached  no  greater  height.  If  the  sedimentary  beds 
were  not  formed  in  the  manner  which  their  theory 
assumes,  then  the  inference  of  successive  creations  of 
new  and  more  perfect  races  at  widely  separated  inter- 
vals has  no  foundation.  The  character  and  relative 
position  of  the  fossil  relics  in  the  rocks,  does  not  prove 
that  the  rocks  themselves  were  formed  by  the  sup- 
posed inconceivably  slow  process.  It  is  indeed  far 
more  conceivable  and  credible  that  the  same  relics 
should  be  fixed  in  the  same  positions  by  a  rapid  than 
by  a  slow  process. 

Let  the  circumstances  and  requisite  conditions  in  the 
two  cases  be  considered. 

In  the  one  case,  when,  according  to  the  geologic 
theory,  the  deposit  of  sediment  began,  the  solid  sur- 
face both  beneath  the  ocean  and  above  the  sea  level 
was  granite.  There  was  no  soil  for  the  support  of 
plants  or  animals  ;  and  if  there  were  any  plants,  in- 
sects, shell-fish,  or  other  organized  existences  in  the 
fresh  or  salt-waters,  none  of  them  are  supposed  to 
have  been  fossilized  during  the  vast  period  occupied  in 
the  formation  of  the  group  of  rocks  termed  non-fossili- 
ferous,  which  rests  on  the  granite,  since  there  no 
such  relics  have  been  discovered.  When  that  group 
was  completed,  and  the  next,  the  Cambrian,  had  com- 


234:  THE    EPOCH    OP    CREATION. 

menced,  various  marine  shells,  radiated  and  articulated 
animals,  fishes,  marine  plants  and  land  plants,  were 
supplied  for  inhumation. 

It  is  apparent  from  this  list  of  marine  fossils,  as 
from  other  considerations,  that  the  scene  of  their  de- 
posit was  beneath  the  waters  of  the  ocean  ;  and  from 
the  reported  thickness  of  the  superimposed  masses, 
this  must  have  been  at  a  depth  of  some  six  or  seven 
miles  below  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Of  course,  no 
plants  or  animals  of  any  description  could  possibly 
subsist  at  that  depth,  nor  probably  at  one-twentieth 
part  of  such  a  distance  below  the  surface.  Nor  could 
they,  without  a  miracle,  be  precipitated  from  near  the 
surface  to  such  a  depth,  or  anything  more  than  a  frac- 
tional part  of  it.  Dead  fishes,  radiated  and  articulated 
animals,  and  plants,  it  is  presumed  would  not  sink  at 
all.  Nor  indeed  is  it  conceivable  that  the  finely  com- 
minuted sedimentary  matter  of  the  successive  groups 
of  rocks,  supposing  it  to  have  been  slowly  disengaged 
from  the  original  granite,  and  diffused  in  the  waters  of 
the  ocean,  should  ever  slowly  subside  and  sink  down 
miles  below  the  surface.  And  surely  nothing  can  be 
more  incredible,  than  that  land  plants,  after  being 
drifted  into  and  widely  dispersed  near  the  surface  of 
the  ocean,  should  be  precipitated  to  the  depth  of  five 
or  six  miles,  and  there  in  the  course  of  time  be  buried 
up  and  fossilized  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  not- 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE   GEOLOGIC   THEORY.  235 

withstanding  the  lapse  of  time  between  their  detach- 
ment from  the  soil,  and  their  inhumation,  and  the  ac- 
tion on  them  of  river  and  ocean  currents,  and  of  salt, 
carbonic  acid,  and  other  corroding  agents  in  the  sea. 

It  is  clear  that  the  first  sedimentary  deposits  must 
have  been  made  at  the  supposed  depth  of  eight  or  ten 
miles  below  the  sea  level ;  for  otherwise  they  could 
not  have  risen  to  the  height  of  eight  or  ten  miles  above 
the  subjacent  granite.  To  suppose  that  when  they 
commenced,  the  granite  platform  beneath  them  was 
within  a  moderate  distance  of  the  surface,  and  was 
from  time  to  time  forced  down  by  some  convulsion, 
may  seem  to  remove  one  difficulty,  but  only  by 
creating  another.  For  on  that  supposition,  where 
were  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  which  though  they  now 
occupy  about  three-fourths  of  the  surface  of  the  globe, 
are  from  two  or  three  to  nine  or  more  miles  in  depth  ? 
From  the  universality  of  the  gneiss,  the  lowest  of  the 
sedimentary  rocks ;  the  regular  succession  of  the  beds 
and  groups  above  it,  and  the  necessary  constancy  of 
the  action  of  the  natural  causes  by  which  the  granite 
rocks  are  supposed  to  have  been  worn  down,  it  follows 
that  the  process  of  sedimentary  formations  must  have 
been  universally  constant  over  the  whole  area  occupied 
by  them,  and  therefore  if  the  waters  of  the  ocean  had. 
been  shallow  enough  to  admit  of  the  deposition  of 
sediment,  and  of  plants  and  animals,  there  would  not 


236  THE   EPOCH  OF   CREATION. 

have  been  room  enough  for  them,  even  had  they  over- 
spread the  entire  surface  of  the  globe. 

All  the  geologists  agree  that  the  stratified  rocks  were 
deposited  from  water,  and  therefore  originally  must 
have  been  nearly  horizontal.  The  total  thickness  of 
the  fossiliferous  strata  generally  is  held  to  be  about 
seven  miles,  and  that  of  the  non-fossiliferous  supposed 
to  be  three  miles  or  more.  Organic  remains,  relics  of 
plants  and  animals,  occur  more  or  less  in  all  the 
fossiliferous  strata.  "  It  is,"  says  Professor  Hitchcock, 
"  a  moderate  estimate  to  say,  that  two-thirds  of  our 
existing  continents  are  composed  of  fossiliferous  rocks. 
This  estimate,"  he  adds,  "  might  without  exaggera- 
tion be  confined  to  strata  that  contain  marine  relics 
which  were  deposited  beneath  the  ocean." 

The  fossiliferous  strata,  therefore  (and  consequently 
the  non-fossiliferous  beneath  them),  must,  as  has  been 
before  observed,  have  been  elevated  from  beneath  the 
ocean,  after  the  whole  process  of  stratification  was 
completed  ;  for  otherwise  the  upper  stratum  of  the 
series  with  its  imbedded  fossils  could  not  have  been 
formed.  The  whole  mass  must  have  remained  beneath 
the  ocean,  and  substantially  in  the  position  in  which 
the  sediment  was  deposited,  till  the  operation  was 
finished.  It  could  not,  maintaining  its  horizontal  posi- 
tion, have  been  gradually  elevated,  and  yet  have  left 
room  for  the  ocean  water  without  deluging  the   dry 


FOSSILS   ON   HIGII   MOUNTAINS.  237 

land  and  precluding  the  existence  of  land  plants,  and 
animals,  to  be  inhumed  in  the  uppermost  fossiliferous 
stratum,  where  they  chiefly  occur ;  nor  could  it  at  any 
stage  before  its  completion,  have  been  tilted  up  and 
distorted  as  it  now  is,  without  precluding  the  orderly 
horizontal  deposition  of  the  strata  still  to  be  formed. 

From  these  and  other  considerations,  not  necessary 
now  to  be  insisted  on,  we  are  entitled  to  infer  that  the 
elevation  of  our  present  continents  and  their  mountain 
ranges  was  subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the  fossili- 
ferous strata,  and  was  sudden,  and  occupied  but  a. 
brief  space  of  time.  That  it  was  violent,  is  shown  by 
the  tilted  and  distorted  positions  which  in  many 
localities  the  whole  mass  of  sedimentary  matter,  from 
the  lowest  stratum  to  the  highest,  now  exhibits  ;  and 
also  from  the  height  to  which  the  mountains,  capped 
with  sedimentary  rocks,  were  raised  ;  it  being  known 
that  in  the  Alps  such  rocks  abound  with  organic  re- 
mains from  six  to  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea  ;  in  the  Pyrenees,  nearly  as  high  ;  in  the 
Andes  at  the  height  of  fourteen  thousand  feet,  and  on 
the  Himalaya  summits  at  a  still  greater  altitude.  That 
the  elevating  force  must  have  been  simultaneously 
exerted  in  all  the  regions  occupied  by  the  present  con- 
tinents, is  to  be  inferred  from  the  unquestionable 
necessity  there  was  of  removing  and  sinking  the  former 
continents,  and  thereby  filling  the  vacuum  caused  by 


238  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

elevating  new  ones,  and  at  the  same  time  providing  a 
capacious  bed  for  the  present  ocean. 

That  the  elevatory  force  by  which  the  present  con- 
tinents were  raised,  was  exerted  after  and  within  a 
limited  period  after  the  completion  of  the  sedimentary 
strata,  is  further  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  dykes 
and  veins  of  mineral  and  metallic  matter  which  rise 
from  beneath  to  the  ■  surface,  were  not  forced  up  till 
after  those  strata  were  raised,  tilted,  and  fixed  in  their 
present  position  ;  as  appears  from  the  fact  that  those 
dykes  and  veins  in  passing  through  inclined  and  dis- 
torted strata,  pierce  them  not  at  right  angles  with 
their  planes,  but  obliquely,  and  maintain  in  general  a 
vertical  direction  which  could  not  have  happened  till 
after  the  stratified  masses  had  been  forced  up. 

The  reader  will  now  consider  the  facts  thus  briefly 
glanced  at :  That  all  the  sedimentary  rocks  which  con- 
stitute the  field  of  geologic  research  and  hypothesis^  were 
formed  beneath  the  waters  of  the  ocean ;  that  the  fos- 
siliferous  groups,  to  the  depth  of  about  seven  miles,  con- 
tain both  marine  and  terrestrial  plants  and  animals  : 
That  these  and  the  sedimentary  group  beneath  them 
were  deposited  prior  to  their  elevation  above  the  sea  level ; 
that  the  continents  previously  occupied  by  vegetable 
and  animal  races  were  removed  or  depressed  at  the 
same  time  or  immediately  after  the  present  continents 
were  raised  ;  and  in  view  of  these  facts,  and  the  infer- 


SUPPOSED   EFFECTS   OF   THE   DELUGE.  239 

ences  which  they  justify,  he  will  be  prepared  to  decide 
whether  it  is  possible  that  the  stratified  rocks  were 
formed,  and  their  fossils  distributed  and  buried  up  in 
them,  in  the  manner  represented  by  the  geological 
theory  ;  or  whether  a  process  like  that  above  indicated, 
by  which  the  whole  mass  of  sedimentary  matter  was 
dissolved,  intermixed  with  the  existing  plants  and  ani- 
mals, and  held  in  solution  in  the  waters  of  the  delude  : 
and  under  the  influence  of  mechanical,  chemical,  gal- 
vanic, electric,  and  perhaps  other  forces,  precipitated, 
distributed  into  beds  of  diverse  mineral  composition, 
consolidated,  and  subsequently  elevated  above  the  sea 
level. 

In  noting  the  difficulties  of  the  former  supposition, 
it  must  be  observed,  that  the  present  continents  occupy 
the  space,  which  prior  to  the  sedimentary  formations, 
was  occupied  by  the  ocean  ;  and  the  present  ocean  oc- 
cupies the  field  of  the  former  continents.  From  those 
former  continents  therefore,  the  mass  of  sedimentary 
matter  must  have  been  derived,  and  likewise  the  ter- 
restrial plants  and  animals  which  are  fossilized.  And 
it  is  further  to  be  observed  that  both  the  marine  and 
terrestrial  plants  and  animals  which  are  imbedded  in 
the  sedimentary  rocks,  are  in  general  very  perfectly 
preserved  ;  a  large  portion  of  them  in  the  limestones 
and  other  solid  strata,  exhibiting  no  marks  of  abrasion 
or  decay 


2-4:0  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

If  then  those  former  continents  consisted  of  earths 
and  soils  adapted  to  the  spontaneous  and  most  exuber- 
ant growth  of  plants,  and  the  support  of  every  species 
of  animals  ;  and  in  that  state  were  saturated,  and 
with  their  various  vegetable  and  animal  races,  diffused 
in  the  waters  of  the  deluge,  and  in  that  state  of  mix- 
ture transferred  to  the  area  of  the  former  seas ;  the 
conditions  requisite  to  the  sedimentary  and  fossil  for- 
mations would  be  provided  for  ;  the  pervading  presence 
of  water  the  medium  of  deposition  ;  the  distribution  of 
diverse  mineral  matter  into  distinct  beds  ;  the  mixture 
of  marine  and  terrestrial  plants  and  animals  in  the 
lower  as  well  as  the  higher  groups  ;  and  in  latitudes 
and  climates  to  which  they  were  not  indigenous ;  the 
aggregation  of  vegetable  masses  in  the  coal  measures  ; 
the  subsequent  upheaval  of  the  strata  thus  formed,  to 
constitute  the  present  continents,  and  the  still  later 
intrusion  of  mineral  and  metallic  dykes  and  veins  ;  and 
the  formation  of  a  bed  for  the  present  oceans. 

Doubtless  such  a  process  was  possible,  and  possible 
without  any  greater  miracle  than  that  of  a  universal 
deluge ;  possible,  consistently  with  the  wide  dispersion 
of  the  fossil  relics,  and  the  state  of  preservation  in 
which  they  are  discovered  ;  possible,  with  the  mate- 
rials thus  indicated,  and  consistently  with  the  separa- 
tion of  them  into  strata  of  different  mineral  composi- 
tion ;    possible,   consistently   with  the  moral  reasons 


DILUVIAL   CHANGES    POSSIBLE.  211 

assigned  in  Scripture  for  the  deluge  itself,  and  the  results 
consequent  upon  it,  in  shortening  the  period  of  human 
life  ;  the  necessity  of  toil  and  of  arts  and  inventions  to 
render  the  earth  productive ;  the  allowance  of  animal 
food  for  the  sustenance  of  man  ;  the  extinction  of 
many  species  of  plants  and  animals,  consequent  on  the 
sterility  of  the  new  formations  ;  the  spontaneous 
growth  of  noxious  in  place  of  healthful  plants ; 
the  introduction  of  diseases,  droughts,  famines, 
pestilences,  poverty,  and  oppression  ;  and  lastly,  pos- 
sible, consistently  with  what  is  prophetically  foreshown 
of  the  purpose  of  the  Creator,  hereafter,  not  by  a  pro- 
tracted, but  by  a  summary  process,  to  renovate,  re- 
model, and  re-establish  the  earth  in  its  primitive  para- 
disiacal condition  of  fertility,  healthfulness,  and 
beauty.  And  if  with  these  conditions  such  a 
process  was  possible,  the  purpose  of  these  obser- 
vations requires  no  more. 

That  a  transfer  of  the  superior  portion  of  the  former 
continents,  with  their  animal  tribes,  to  the  scene  of 
the  sedimentary  formations,  should  not  have  involved 
a  coincident  transfer  of  the  human  with  the  inferior 
races,  and  a  mixture  of  their  relics  with  the  flora  and 
fauna  of  the  rocks,  may  have  a  reason  in  what  relates 
to  the  resurrection,  and  the  relation  of  its  period  to 
that  of  the  future  renovation  of  the  earth  ;  or  if  they 
were  transferred,  further  investigations  may  yet  dis- 

11 


212  THE   EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

close  them  :  or  their  place  of  sepulture  may  be  beyond 
the  limits  of  geologic  exploration  and  research. 

Supposing  the  deluge  to  have  been  instrumental  in 
producing  the  great  geologic  changes  referred  to,  their 
congruity  with  the  teachings  of  inspiration  is,  in  the 
most  important  particulars,  sufficiently  apparent.  The 
earth,  its  vegetation,  the  inferior  tribes  of  animals,  and 
man,  were  created  perfect  in  their  natures,  and  in  re- 
lation to  their  respective  objects  and  destinations.  The 
earth  was  perfectly  fitted  to  be  the  perpetual  abode  of 
man  in  his  primeval  state  of  holiness  and  happiness. 
Man  was  invested  with  dominion  over  all  inferior  crea- 
tures. The  rites  and  services  necessary  to  his  social 
and  religious  well-being  were  instituted.  Vegetables 
were  appointed  for  his  sustenance.  Man  apostatised, 
renounced  his  allegiance  to  the  Creator,  forfeited  the 
gifts  and  immunities  of  his  previous  state,  was  judged 
and  condemned.  A  change  in  his  physical  condition 
and  destiny  wss  denounced  upon  him,  corresponding 
to  the  change  in  his  moral  character,  relations,  and 
prospects.  The  physical  was  the  consequence,  the  le- 
gitimate and  appropriate  consequence,  of  the  moral 
change.  His  apostacy,  considered  in  itself,  and  as  in- 
volving his  own  race  in  its  moral,  and  his  own  with 
the  inferior  races,  in  its  physical  consequences,  was  an 
event  of  incomparably  more  importance  than  any 
other    event    which    ever    affected    this    world.      The 


MORAL  REASONS  OF  THE  DELUGE.        243 

earth,  polluted  by  his  sin,  was  doomed  and  smitten. 
The  Creator  said  to  Adam,  "  Cursed  is  the  ground  for 
thy  sake  ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days 
of  thy  life  ;  thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring 
forth  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field  ; 
in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou 
return  into  the  ground  ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken  ; 
for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shall  thou  return." 
Man  was  no  longer  permitted  to  subsist  on  the  fruits 
of  paradise.  He  was  driven  forth  from  Eden,  to  till 
the  ground  from  which  he  was  taken. 

Under  this  sentence  for  about  sixteen  centuries,  the 
period  of  human  life  was  prolonged  to  eight  or  nine 
hundred  years  ;  the  sentence  being  but  partially  exe- 
cuted. The  respite  was  abused.  "  All  flesh  corrupted 
his  way.  The  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the 
earth  ;  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart 
was  only  evil  continually.  The  earth  was  corrupt. 
And  the  Lord  said,  I  will  destroy  man  whom  I  have 
created,  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  both  man  and 
beast,  and  the  creeping  thing,  and  the  fowls  of  the 
air — the  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me  ;  for 
the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through  them  ; 
and  behold  I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth — 7, 
even  I,  do  bring'  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth, 
to  destroy  all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life, 
from   under   Heaven  :   and  every   thing'  that  is  in 


244  THE   EPOCJI    OF   CKEATION. 

the  earth  shall  die. — And  every  living  substance  was 
destroyed  which  was  upon  the  face  of  the  ground, 
both  man  and  cattle,  and  the  creeping  things,  and  the 
fowl  of  the  heavens ;  and  they  were  destroyed  from 
the  earth  ;  and  Noah  only  remained  alive,  and  they 
that  were  with  him  in  the  ark." 

This  deluge  continued  during  twelve  months  and 
ten  days ;  a  period  far  longer  than  was  necessary  to 
the  destruction  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  long 
enough  it  may  be  assumed,  considering  the  object  of 
it,  and  the  agencies  employed  in  effecting  it,  to  pro- 
duce all  the  geological  changes  which  can  be  ascribed 
to  it.  It  is  noticeable  that,  vegetation  having  been 
destroyed,  Noah  continued  in  the  ark  nearly  two 
months  after  the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry  ;  within 
which  time,  a  supply  of  vegetation  for  the  animals  in 
the  ark,  might  be  produced. 

The  greatness  of  the  catastrophe,  considered  in  its 
physical  as  well  as  its  moral  relations,  is  indicated  by 
what  took  place  after  its  termination.  The  Lord  said 
— "  1  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for 
man's  sake — neither  will  1  again  smite  any  more 
every  thing  living,  as  I  have  done.  While  the  earth 
remaineth,  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat, 
and  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night,  shall  not 
cease."  For  man's  security  and  sustentation,  under 
his  altered   and   novel  circumstances,  the  fear   of  him 


RESULTS   OF   THE   DELUGE.  245 

was  impressed  on  all  the  inferior  creatures,  and  the 
flesh  of  animals  was  allowed  to  him  for  food.  His  of- 
fering of  sacrifices  was  accepted,  and  some  important 
moral  precepts  were  enjoined  upon  him.  And  further 
to  confirm  his  confidence  in  the  future  exemption  of 
the  earth  from  a  similar  visitation,  and  to  commemo- 
rate the  wonders  of  the  recent  scene,  a  covenant  be- 
tween the  Creator  and  his  creatures,  was  announce  J, 
and  a  token  of  it,  visible  to  all  creatures,  was  estab- 
lished. "  And  Grod  spake  unto  Noah  and  to  his  sons 
with  him,  saying  :  and  I,  behold,  I  establish  my  cove- 
nant with  you,  and  with  your  seed  after  you,  and 
with  every  living  creature  that  is  with  you,  of  the 
fowl,  of  the  cattle,  and  of  every  beast  of  the  earth  with 
you,  from  all  that  go  out  of  the  ark,  to  every  beast  of 
the  earth.  And  Grod  said,  This  is  the  token  of  the 
covenant  which  I  make,  between  Me  and  you  and 
every  living  creature  that  is  with  you,  for  perpetual 
generations.  I  do  set  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it 
shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covenant  between  Me  and  the 
earth.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  I  bring  a 
cloud  over  the  earth,  that  the  bow  shall  be  seen  in  the 
cloud  :  And  I  will  remember  My  covenant  which  is 
between  Me  and  you  and  every  living  creature  of  all 
flesh;  and  the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to 
destroy  all  flesh.  And  the  bow  shall  be  in  the  cloud  ; 
and  I  will  look  upon  it,  that  I   may   remember   the 


246  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION 

everlasting  covenant  between  God  and  every  living 
creature  of  all  flesh,  that  is  upon  the  earth.  And 
G-od  said  unto  Noah,  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant 
which  I  have  established  between  Me  and  all  flesh  that 
is  upon  the  earth." 

The  apostacy  of  man  was,  in  its  nature  as  a  moral 
phenomenon,  and  in  its  moral  and  physical  consequen- 
ces and  relations,  the  most  comprehensive  and  disas- 
trous event,  of  which  the  earth  has  ever  been  the 
scene.  It  involved  the  character  and  destiny  of  the 
whole  race.  As  an  example  of  revolt,  renunciation  of 
allegiance,  alienation  and  antagonism,  against  the 
Creator  and  moral  ruler  of  the  universe,  it  bore  direct 
and  manifest  relations  to  the  unfallen  myriads  of  other 
worlds.  It  was  the  rebellion  of  a  province  of  the  moral 
empire.  It  was  the  act  of  a  bodied  race  of  creatures, 
visible  by  their  physical  organizations  ;  and  was  visi- 
bly manifested  by  their  external  agency.  Its  nature, 
turpitude,  and  deserts,  were  therefore  to  be  signified 
by  external,  physical,  and  visible  inflictions  ;  decay 
and  death  to  man's  physical  nature,  as  a  concomitant 
and  counterpart  to  the  spiritual  death  and  doom  of  his 
immortal  soul  ;  and  a  visible  confirmatory,  and  illus- 
trative, physical  change,  in  his  terrestrial  habitation 
and  condition.  Hence  the  specification  of  physical 
evils  in  the  sentence  pronounced  upon  Adam,  and  the 
order  in  which  they  are  recorded.     Cursed  is  the  earth 


PIIYSICAL    EFFECTS   OF   THE   DELUGE.  247 

— for  thy  sake— henceforth  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  par- 
take of  its  products.     Thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring 
forth  to  thee.     In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread  till  thou  return  to  the  dust.     These  terms  denote 
vast   and   various   physical  changes  ;  changes  suitable 
to  indicate  the  total  change  in  man's  moral  character, 
relations,  and  destiny ;  changes  proportioned  in  other 
respects  to  that   stamped   on   his  mortal   prospects  by 
the  introduction  of  toil,  sorrow,  decay,  and  death.    But 
the  perfect   rectitude   of  the  Lawgiver  and  judge   in 
these  inflictions   would   not,    we   may   suppose,    have 
been  so  convincingly  manifest  to  Adam  and  his  succes- 
sors, as  to  induce  their  full  recognition  and  acknow- 
ledgment, had  they  been  executed  immediately,  or  be- 
fore the  desperate  alienation,  corruption,  and  wicked- 
ness of  men,  in  their  fallen  state,  had  been  manifested 
by  a   prolonged  trial,  attended  by  every  advantage  of 
outward   and  temporal  circumstances  :    A  respite  was 
therefore  permitted.     The  days  of  Adam  and  those  of 
his  immediate   descendants  were   protracted  to  about 
nine  hundred  years  ;  the  earth  probably  continuing  to 
yield  spontaneously  its  primeval  fruits,  till  the  lapse 
of   1600    years  ;    when  the  world  was  so  filled  with 
corruption    and    violence    as    to    forbid  further  delay, 
require    an    immediate    and    summary    execution    of 
the    curse    upon    the    earth,    in    connection    with    all 
but  a  total  extinction  of  the  race,  and  such  changes 


24:8  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

in  the  surface,  the  climates,  and  the  products  of 
the  globe,  and  such  abridgement,  toil,  and  sorrow 
of  post-diluvian  life  as  visibly  and  fully  to  com- 
port with  the  terms  of  the  primeval  sentence,  and 
to  vindicate  the  righteousness  and  the  necessity 
of  it,  to  the  view  of  the  whole  universe  ;  and 
moreover  to  leave  in  the  condition  of  its  rocks 
and  relics  such  tokens  of  the  nature,  occasion,  and 
effects  of  the  visitation,  as  should  never  be  called  in 
question,  at  least  by  any  other  than  fallen  creatures. 
This,  like  other  extraordinary  dispensations  affect- 
ing the  whole  race,  or  particular  nations,  or  commu- 
nities, was  expressly  declared  to  be  the  effect  of 
immediate  Divine  interposition.  It  was  a  judicial 
visitation  on  the  race  for  their  apostacy  and  wicked- 
ness. "  Behold  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a  flood  of  wa- 
ters upon  the  earth,  to  destroy  all  flesh,"  &c. 
It  was  signalized  by  numerous  outward  and  visible 
arrangements  and  instrumentalities,  betokening  the 
nature  and  greatness  of  the  exigency,  and  adapted 
to  convince  all  created  intelligences  of  the  pre- 
sence and  righteousness  of  its  author.  That  there 
was  great  significance  in  the  visibility,  as  well 
as  in  the  magnitude  of  the  physical  changes,  con- 
sidered as  the  tokens  or  counterpart  of  the  moral 
changes  wrought  by  the  apostacy,  and  rendered 
manifest   by   the   universal   corruption   and   violence 


ANALOGY   OF   SIGNAL   INFLICTIONS.  249 

which  ensued  ;  can  admit  of  no  rational  doubt, 
whether  considered  with  relation  to  intelligent  spec- 
tators of  the  scene,  fallen  and  unfallen,  or  with 
relation  to  all  subsequent  observation  of  the  physi- 
cal effects  and  monuments  of  those  changes. 

The  scene  which  from  the  beginning  has  been 
passing  upon  this  earth,  is  doubtless  a  spectacle 
to  the  universe  of  created  intelligences.  From  the 
beginning  the  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  Creator, 
as  moral  and  providential  ruler,  have  been  questioned, 
denied,  and  arrogantly  usurped  by  the  fallen.  Instead 
of  rendering  to  Him  the  homage  and  obedience  which 
He  claims,  they  yield  themselves  to  the  rival  system 
of  idolatry,  and  visibly  manifest  the  depravity  of  their 
hearts,  by  worshipping  and  serving  creatures.  On 
numerous  occasions  therefore,  when  their  corruptions 
could  no  longer  be  permitted,  he  has  come  forth, 
and  by  local  and  visible  interpositions  and  endur- 
ing effects  and  monuments  of  his  righteous  indig- 
nation has  rebuked  and  confounded  their  impiety. 
Sometimes,  as  on  occasion  of  the  confusion  of  tongues 
and  dispersion  of  mankind  to  all  parts  of  the  earth,  and 
on  that  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom,  and  that  of  the 
destruction  of  the  nations  of  Canaan,  He  "  who  was 
in  the  beginning  and  by  whom  all  things  in  heaven 
and  earth,  were  created,"  signalized  his  interposition 
by  his  visible  presence,  as  if,  in  view  of  an  observant 
11* 


250  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

universe,  to  attest  and  sanction  by  his  personal  appear- 
ance and  inspection,  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  the 
visitations  about  to  be  effected  by  His  power.  Has  it, 
since  the  audacious  and  idolatrous  project  of  Nimrod 
and  his  confederates  was  defeated,  been  possible  for 
any  intelligent  observer  of  the  actual  condition  of  the 
nations  and  tribes  of  mankind  with  their  thousand 
variant  and  discordant  languages,  to  doubt  of  the 
greatness  and  universality  of  the  interposition  which 
"  scattered  them  abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth," 
and  confounded  "  the  language  of  all  the  earth  ?"  Or 
could  such  an  observer  possibly  doubt  of  the  reality, 
the  far-reaching  import,  the  sufficiency  and  moral  ne- 
cessity of  the  reason  assigned  for  the  visitation  which 
has  left  its  impress  as  it  were  upon  the  very  nature 
and  the  social  condition  of  every  nation,  tribe,  family, 
and  individual  of  the  race  down  to  the  present  hour  ? 
Would  there  have  been  anything  extravagant  in  arguing 
from  the  local  phenomena  of.  the  Dead  Sea  and  the 
historical  facts  of  its  history,  that  it  was,  for  the  rea- 
son assigned,  miraculously  constituted,  a  perpetual 
memorial  and  witness  of  the  righteous  judgement  of 
Grod  ;  or  the  adequacy  of  the  reason  assigned  for  so 
total  and  remediless  a  destruction  ;  even  if  the  apostle 
Peter  had  not  compared  it  to  the  dejection  and  doom 
of  the  angels  who  fell,  and  with  the  destruction  of  the 
earth  by   "  bringing  in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of  the 


SCRIPTURE    REFERENCES   TO    THE    DELUGE.  251 

ungodly  :"  and  then  describing  it  as  "  a  taming  of 
the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  into  ashes,  condemn- 
ing them  with  an  overthrow  and  making  them  an 
example,"  a  monitor,  a  warning,  "unto  those  that 
should  after  live  ungodly  ?"  "  Set  forth."  saith  St. 
Jude,  "  for  an  example,  suffering  the  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire." 

Now  if  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  outward  and 
visible  results  in  these  cases  were  only  proportioned  to 
the  wickedness  exhibited  in  these  local  and  limited 
scenes  of  action,  why  should  we  hesitate  to  infer  the 
vastness  and  universality  of  the  physical  changes  at 
the  deluge,  when  for  their  original  apostacy  and  their 
universal  wickedness,  the  whole  race  excepting  Noah 
and  his  family  were  with  the  inferior  animals  to  be 
whelmed  in  utter  and  indiscriminate  destruction  ? 

In  the  Psalms,  and  other  parts  of  Scripture  this 
visitation  is  alluded  to  as  among  the  most  wondrous 
interpositions  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  The  cove- 
nant with  Noah  was  of  such  significance  as  to  be  re- 
ferred to  by  Isaiah  in  confirmation  of  the  sacredness 
and  stability  of  the  eternal  covenant  between  God  and 
his  redeemed  people.  «  As  I  have  sworn  that  the  waters 
of  Noah  should  no  more  go  over  the  earth,  so  have  I 
sworn  that  I  would  not  be  wroth  with  thee  nor  rebuke 
thee.  For  the  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be 
removed  ;  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee, 


252  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed, 
saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee." — Isaiah  54. 
The  Apostle  Peter  contrasts  the  destruction  of  the 
earth  by  the  deluge,  with  its  future  transformation  by 
fire,  indicating  the  universality  of  the  physical  results. 
"  The  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with 
water,  perished.  But  the  heavens  and  earth  which  are 
now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved 
unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition 
of  ungodly  men.'* 


CONCLUSION. 

Reference  to  the  Supreme  authority  and  importance  of  the  Scriptures. 

If  the  Scriptures  were  given  by  inspiration  of  the 
Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  World  ;  if  they  teach  what 
we  are  to  believe  concerning  Him,  and  what  duties  He 
requires  of  us  ;  if  they  record  His  acts  as  Creator 
and  Ruler,  and  the  laws  and  sanctions  of  Fis  moral 
government ;  then  they  demand  our  highest  reverence 
as  bearing  the  signatures  and  sanctions  of  His  infinite 
authority,  exhibiting  the  nature  and  basis  of  His  pre- 
rogatives and  rights,  and  imposing  upon  us  the  most 
unrestricted  and  imperative  obligations.  If  in  our 
degeneracy  and  blindness  we  do  not  understand  and 
comprehend  all  that  they  teach,  it  becomes  us  to  re- 
gard them  as  the  appointed  vehicle,  the  ark,  of  the 
Divine  wisdom,  authority  and  favor  to  a  fallen  race, 
and  at  least  to  refrain  from  putting  forth  the  presump- 


254:  THE    EPOCH    OF    CREATION. 

tuous  hand  of  our  physical  theories  to  rectify  or  guide 
it. 

Infidelity,  driven  forth  from  the  fields  of  metaphysics 
and   philosophy,  has  taken  refuge  in  the  dark  recesses 
and  labyrinths  of  physical  nature,  where  its  invariable 
concomitant  and  counterpart,  superstition,  finds  mys- 
teries, prodigies,  paradoxes,  and  wonders,  suited  to  its 
insatiable  cravings.     The  christian  man  is  tempted  to 
follow,  and  to  encounter  the  wily  enemy  in  this   am- 
bush, leaving  neglected   behind  him  the  only  citadel 
and  tower  of  his  strength  and  safety,  with  its   muni- 
tions of  defence.     He   ventures  on  the   conflict   with 
such  weapons  only  as  he  may  have  in   common  with, 
or   may  obtain   from   the   adverse  party,  by  barter  or 
concession.     If,   on    this    arena,  he    contends   for  the 
reality    and    divine    authority    of    inspiration    or    of 
miracles,  he  soon,  step  by  step,  as  the  spell  of  natural- 
ism, and  of  his  contrasted    and    conscious  weakness 
comes  over  him,  yields  to  the  visible,  innumerable,  in- 
explicable paradoxes,  mysteries,  and  mazes  of  nature, 
all    that    his    adopted    guides,    the    laws    of   physical 
science,  reject   as   supernatural.     As  he  descends  into 
the  sepulchral  abysses  of  the  earth  in  search  of  primeval 
records  and  revelations,  the   light  of  heaven   is   inter- 
cepted and  soon  forgotten.     (See  Appendix  C.) 

If  in  respect  to    the    moral  nature,  accountability, 
and  destiny   of  man,  in  his  relations  to  his  Creator, 


PHYSICAL   SCIENCE   AND    INFIDELITY.  255 

Preserver,  Ruler,  and  Redeemer,  the  Bible  is  anything, 
it  is  without  competition  or  comparison,  essential  to 
him  ;  his  only  infallible  guide,  a  lamp  to  his  feet,  a 
light  to  his  path.  Suited  to  his  limited  capacities,  his 
dependence  and  his  weakness,  it  exhibits  moral  reasons 
for  the  works  of  creation  and  providence,  and  leaves 
the  great,  and  to  him  inscrutable  mysteries  of  nature, 
and  of  the  mode  of  the  Creator's  agency  in  originating, 
upholding,  changing,  and  governing,  all  things,  unex- 
plained. 

Jehovah,  the  Incarnate  Word,  is,  in  the  theories  of 
physical  science,  unrecognized  and  unacknowledged. 
When  He  was  visibly  in  the  world  which  was  made  by 
Him,  the  world  knew  him  not.  And  that  He  is  now 
no  more  known  or  acknowledged  in  the  systems  of 
Idealism,  Pantheism,  and  Naturalism,  than  in  those 
of  Pagan  superstition  and  Mahommedan  imposture, 
should  be  a  warning  to  good  men  not  to  swerve  from 
the  lights  of  the  only  revelation  He  has  vouchsafed 
and  sanctioned  for  their  guidance.  As  yet  the  world 
at  large  has  never  acknowledged  His  prerogatives  and 
rights  as  Creator  and  Moral  Grovernor.  But  we  are 
forewarned  in  terms  fitted  to  arrest  and  fix  our  atten- 
tion, that  in  the  consummation  of  the  purposes,  and 
as  one  of  the  results  of  his  perfect  administration,  He 
will  be  recognized  in  the  greatness  and  majesty  of 
His  person,  and   the  glory   of  His   attributes  ;    every 


256  THE  EPOCH   OF   CREATION. 

eye  shall  see  Him,  and  every  knee  shall  bow,  and 
every  tongue  confess  that,  in  Contradistinction  to  all 
idols  and  all  creatures,  He  is  Jehovah,  the  self-exist- 
ent, the  creator,  upholder,  ruler,  and  judge  of  all. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

[From  a  vol.  entitled  "  Geological  Cosmogony,"  published  by  Robert 
Carter,    1843.] 

"  The  following  extracts  from  different  works  on 
Greology  will  sufficiently  indicate  the  views  of  the 
authors  on  the  points  to  which  they  relate. 

"  As  the  materials  of  stratified  rocks  are  in  great 
degree  derived  directly  or  indirectly  from  those  which 
are  unstratified,  we  commence  our  inquiry  at  that 
most  ancient  period  when  there  is  much  evidence  to 
render  it  probable  that  the  entire  materials  of  the  globe 
were  in  a  fluid  state,  and  that  the  cause  of  this  fluidity 
was  heat.  The  form  of  the  earth  being  that  of  an 
oblate  spheriod — is  that  which  a  fluid  mass  would 
assume  from  revolution  around  its  axis.  The  nebular 
hypothesis  offers  the  most  simple  and  therefore  the 
most  probable  theory  respecting  the  first  condition  of 
the  material  elements  that  compose  our  solar  sys- 
tem."— Buckland. 

"  The  nebular  hypothesis  in  its  relations  to  the 
planetary   system  may  be  termed  complete  ;  it  com- 


258 


APPENDIX. 


prehends  its  beginnings,  establishes  those  elements  on 
which  its  duration  depends,  and  exhibits  the  causes 
and  mode  of  its  ultimate  transition  into  a  novel  form  ; 
and  thus  surveying  it  from  its  commencement  to  its 
close,  we  are  as  if  in  possession  of  that  primeval 
Creative  Thought  which  originated  our  system,  and 
planned  and  circumscribed  its  destiny."  "If  that 
nebular  hypothesis  be  true,  all  the  forces  developed 
upon  the  surface  of  our  planet,  and  which  have  given 
rise  to  geological  transitions,  stretching  through 
periods  in  which  the  existence  of  the  human  race  is 
an  invisible  spec,  will  have  resulted  during  a  stage 
of  condensation  in  a  secondary  nebula,  which  no  in- 
strument from  any  fixed  star  could  possibly  detect." 
"  Our  supposed  origin  of  the  planets  gave  them  and 
their  satellites  that  kind  of  orbits,  and  that  kind  of 
rotation,  which  produced  their  permanence ;  and  the 
inherence  of  this  same  nebulous  parentage,  viz  :  the 
existence  of  an  ether,  leads  gently  to  their  decline." — 
Nichol,  pp.  82,  106,  108. 

"  The  nebular  hypothesis,  ridiculed  as  it  has  been 
by  persons  whose  ignorance  cannot  excuse  their  pre- 
sumption, is  regarded  as  in  a  very  high  degree 
probable  by  some  of  the  finest  and  most  Christian 
minds.  If  I  may  venture  to  utter  my  own  impres- 
sions, I  must  profess  it  as  the  most  reasonable  suppo- 
sition, and  the  correllate  of  the  nebular  theory,  that 
Clod  originally  gave  being  to  the  primordial  elements 


APPENDIX. 


259 


of  things,  the  very  small  number  of  simple  bodies, 
endowing  each  with  its  own  wondrous  properties." — 
Smith . 

"  The  evidence  of  geological  phenomena  constrains 
us  to  the  belief,  that  our  earth  has  existed,  has  been 
the  seat  of  life,  and  has  undergone  many  changes  of 
its  surface,  through  periods  of  time  utterly  beyond 
human  power  to  assign.  That  evidence  is  of  distinct 
and  independent  kinds,  chiefly  derived  from  the  ap- 
pearance of  stratification  and  the  remains  of  animal 
and  vegetable  life." — Smith. 

"  The  best  writers  abound  in  general  expressions  ; 
such  as  '  immense  periods  of  time — undefined,  yet 
countless  ages — a  duration  to  which  we  dare  not 
assign  a  boundary — a  work  infinitely  slow — a  space 
of  time  from  the  contemplation  of  which  the  mind 
shrinks — a  long  succession  of  monuments,  each  of 
which  may  have  required  a  thousand  ages  for  its 
elaboration — successions  of  events  where  the  language 
of  nature  signifies  millions  of  years.'  " — Mantcll, 
McCulloch,  Sedgwick,  and  others,  quoted  by  Smith. 

"  The  whole  series  of  strata,  from  the  earliest  of 
them  to  the  present  surface  of  the  globe,  exhibits  a 
bodv  of  evidence  in  favor  of  our  doctrine  [of  antiquity]. 
Every  stratum,  partially  excepting  the  limestones, 
consists  of  a  mass  of  earthy  matters  which  once  formed 


260  APPENDIX. 

the  substance  of  rocks  on  elevated  land.  Those  por- 
tions of  the  rocks  have  been  separated  from  their 
parent  masses,  worn  down,  comminuted,  transported 
often  to  great  distances  by  the  force  of  water,  deposited, 
consolidated  and  hardened." — Ibid. 

"  Beneath  the  whole  series  of  stratified  rocks  that 
appear  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  there  probably 
exists  a  foundation  of  unstratified  rocks,  bearing  an 
irregular  surface,  from  the  detritus  of  which  the 
materials  of  stratified  rocks  have  in  great  measure 
been  derived  either  directly  by  the  accumulation  of 
the  ingredients  of  disintegrated  granite  rocks  ;  or  indi- 
rectly, by  the  repeated  destruction  of  different  classes 
of  stratified  rocks,  the  materials  of  which  had,  by 
prior  operations,  been  derived  from  unstratified  forma- 
tions.' ' — Buckland. 

"  In  mountainous  countries  many  facts  are  presented 
to  the  eye  which  approach  to  a  standard  of  measure- 
ment of  the  average  action  of  the  atmosphere  and  of 
running  water,  in  decomposing  and  washing  off  the 
surface  of  granitic  and  basaltic  rocks.  That  action  is 
sure  and  constant ;  but  it  is  slow,  to  such  a  degree 
that  not  years,  but  centuries  are  required  for  its 
chronicle.  Even  the  abrading  of  that  description  of 
rocks  where  they  form  the  boldest  sea-coast,  by  the 
violence  of  storms  added  to  the  ordinary  action  of 
water   and  weather  (an  addition  of  great  power),  has 


APPENDIX.  261 

not  materially  altered  the  outline  of  such  shores  in 
Cornwall,  the  west  and  north  of  .Scotland,  Norway, 
and  many  other  countries,  since  the  beginning  of  our 
historical  knowledge.  But  the  action  of  a  fresh  water 
river  infringing  upon  hard  rocks,  is  much  more 
feeble." — Smith. 

"  Every  step  we  take  in  it  [geology]  forces  us  to 
make    unlimited    drafts    on    antiquity." — Scrope,   in 

Smith. 

"  The  detritus  of  the  first  dry  lands,  being  drifted 
into  the  sea,  and  there  spread  out  into  extensive  beds 
of  mud,  and  sand,  and  gravel,  would  for  ever  have  re- 
mained beneath  the  surface  of  the  water,  had  not  other 
forces  been  subsequently  employed  to  raise  them  into 
dry  land.  These  forces  appear  to  have  been  the  same 
expansive  powers  of  heat  and  vapor,  which,  having 
caused  the  elevation  of  the  first  raised  portions  of  the 
fundamental  crystalline  rocks,  continued  their  ener- 
gies through  all  succeeding  geological  epochs,  and  still 
exert  them  in  producing  the  phenomena  of  active  vol- 
canoes."— Buckland. 

"  All  observers  admit  that  the  strata  were  formed 
beneath  the  water,  and  have  subsequently  been  con- 
verted into  dry  land." — Ibid. 

"  The  first  appearance   of   stratification  is   in  the 


262  APPENDIX. 

rock  called  G-neiss.  That  is  composed  of  the  same 
materials  as  granite,  on  the  irregular  outline  of  which 
it  rests.  Over  the  G-neiss,  come  the  beds  of  Mica,  Schist, 
and  Slates,  whose  thickness,  '  like  that  of  the  G-neiss, 
cannot  be  ascertained,  on  account  of  the  intervention 
of  other  rocks.'  Their  mode  of  formation  is  proved 
by  the  most  striking  characters  to  have  been  the  same 
as  that  of  the  G-neiss.  If  we  should  venture  to  estimate 
the  united  thickness  of  this  class,  added  to  the  G-neis- 
sic,  at  three  or  even  four  miles,  we  could  not  be  charg- 
ed with  exaggeration." — Smith. 

"  The  thickness  of  these  strata  we  know  to  be  enor- 
mous. These  depths  are  discovered  by  geological  ob- 
servations and  inferences — that  they  extend  to  many 
miles  was  also  proved.  We  have  every  reason  to 
know  from  what  is  taking  place  on  our  own  earth, 
that  the  accumulation  of  materials  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ocean,  is  a  work  infinitely  slow.  We  are  sure  that 
such  an  accumulation  as  should  produce  the  primary 
strata,  as  we  now  see  them,  must  have  occupied  a 
space,  from  the  contemplation  of  which  the  mind 
shrinks." — McCulloch,  as  quoted  by  Smith. 

"  Of  the  next  group,  the  siliceous,  slaty,  and 
limestone  aggregates,  to  which  the  name  Silurian  sys- 
tem is  given, — the  united  thickness  is  about  a  mile  and 
a  half.  Who  then  can  calculate  the  periods  of  their 
derivation  from  the  older  formations,  their  deposition, 


APPENDIX. 


263 


their   elevations,    and    distortions;  their    convulsions, 
penetrations,  and  alterations  of  the  adjoining  rocks,  by 
frequent  outbursts  from   the  fiery  liquid    below,  and 
other   movements,  till  they  were   brought  to  their  ex- 
isting condition  ?     It  would  seem  perfectly  impossible 
for   any  person,  but  moderately  acquainted   with  the 
visible  phenomena  of  volcanic  regions,  to  escape  the 
impression  that  myriads  of  ages  must  have  been  occu- 
pied in  the  production  of  these  formations,  before  the 
creation  of  man  and  the  adaptation  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face for  his  abode.     Evidence  to  the  same  effect  would 
accumulate  upon  us  to  a  vast  amount,  in  examining 
the  old   red   sandstone,  a  remarkable  deposit,  several 
thousand   feet   in  thickness,   found  in  some  parts   of 
Grreat  Britain,  more  abundantly  in  Ireland,  and  either 
in  resemblance,    or    in  equivalence,  in  many   foreign 
regions.     Next  we  come  to  the  mountain  limestone, 
consisting   almost  entirely  of  the  shells  and   coralline 
productions  of  sea  animals,  often  a  thousand  and  more 
feet  in  thickness.     This  formation  is  frequently  more 
or  less  interposed  among  the  beds  of  coal,  composed  of 
compressed  vegetable  matter,  underlaid   and  overlaid 
with   shales,   and  sandstones  in  every  variety  ;   often 
effecting  a  thickness  of  three  thousand  feet.     The  new 
red    sandstone    advances    us   about  another  thousand 
feet. 

'•  Other  changes  implying  probably  some  alteration 
in  the  disposition,  and  consequently  the  action  of  the 
fiery   gulf  below,   marked   the  next  great  system,  or 


2G4  APPENDIX. 

series  of  rocks, — the  Oolitic.  Its  general  thickness 
can  be  little  less  than  half  a  mile.  It  is  filled  with 
the  most  convincing  proofs  of  deposition  from  sea 
water  both  shallow  and  deep,  the  mingled  waters  of 
river  mouths,  and  perhaps  even  fresh  water  of  rivers 
and  lakes. 

"We  arrive,  in  ascending,  at  the  great  masses  of 
chalk,  and  its  accompaniments  of  peculiar  clays  and 
sands,  to  the  thickness  of  a  thousand  feet  more. 
Though  the  lines  of  stratification  are  not  here  so  visible 
as  in  the  underlying  formations,  the  evidence  of  de- 
position from  watery  mixture,  and  of  very  interesting 
effects  from  molecular  and  chemical  attractions,  is  so 
clear  as  to  be  irresistible. 

"Our  last  stage  of  ascent  comprehends  the  tertiary 
series  ;  a  succession  of  beds,  clays,  sands,  and  limes, 
variously  intermixed,  occupying  a  thickness  of  six  or 
eight  hundred  feet.  When  we  have  mounted  to  the 
most  recent  of  those  later  formations,  immediately  be- 
low  the  soil  on  which  we  tread,  we  find  enormous 
masses  of  gravel  and  other  transported  materials  de- 
monstrated by  their  position  to  have  been  rolled  along 
by  mighty  currents,  subsequently  to  all  the  lower  for- 
mations. 

"  In  those  stratified  rocks  which  are  of  a  sandy  con- 
stitution it  is  common  to  find  pebbles,  from  the  size  of 
coriander  seeds  to  that  of  birds'  eggs,  and  much  larger. 
These  bear  demonstrative  evidence  of  having  been 
derived  from  more  ancient  rocks,  by  fracture  and  de- 


APPENDIX. 


265 


tachment,  long-  rolling'  on  a  hard  bottom  under  water, 
dispersed  through  the  loose  sand  of  a  deposit,  subsid- 
ing to  the  lower  part  if  a  tolerably  free  motion  were 
permitted,  and  then  consolidated.  Let  the  old  red  sand- 
stone be  our  example.  In  many  places  the  upper  part 
of  this  vast  formation  is  of  a  closer  grain,  showing 
that  it  was  produced  by  the  last  and  finest  deposits  of 
clayey  and  sandy  mud,  tinged  as  the  whole  is,  with 
oxides  and  carbonates  of  iron,  usually  red  but  often 
of  other  hues.  But  frequently  the  lower  portions) 
sometimes  dispersed  heaps,  and  sometimes  the  entire 
formation,  consist  of  vast  masses  of  conglomerate 
[pebbles  with  sand,  &c], 

"The  earliest  slate  rocks,  like  all  other  strata,  must 
have  been  originally  deposited  in  a  position  horizontal 
or  nearly  so.  By  subsequent  movements,  not  one  but 
evidently  many,  they  have  been  raised  to  all  eleva- 
tions, and  bent  to  the  utmost  extent  of  contortion  :  as 
is  shown  by  the  lines  of  stratification. 

"  The  stratification  contains  in  itself  the  evidence 
of  having  required  periods,  impossible  indeed  to  be  de- 
termined by  any  assignment  of  figures,  but  to  which, 
judging  from  all  approximating  evidence,  our  cycles  of 
time  afford,  none  but  a  totally  defective  measure  of 
comparison." — Smith. 

"  It  appears  that  from   the   remotest  periods  there 
has  been  ever  a  coming  in  of  new  organic  forms,  and 
an  extinction  of  those  which  pre-existed  on  the  earth  ; 
12 


266  APPENDIX. 

some  species  having  endured  for  a  longer,  others  for  a 
shorter  time  ;  but  none  having  reappeared  after  once 
dying  out." — Lyell 

"  General  and  particular  results  all  agree  in  demon- 
strating that  the  physical  conditions  of  the  ancient 
ocean  must  have  been  very  different  in  some  respects, 
from  what  obtain  at  present ;  and  that  these  conditions 
were  subject  to  great  variation  during  the  very  long 
periods  which  elapsed  in  the  formation  of  the  crust  of 
the  earth.  In  the  course  of  these  changes,  whole 
groups  of  animals  perished  ;  others  were  created  to 
perish  in  their  turn." — Phillips. 

"  The  former  universality  of  the  ocean  [is]  now  dis- 
proved by  the  discovery  of  the  remains  of  terrestrial 
vegetation  in  strata  of  every  age,  even  the  most  an- 
cient."— Lyell. 

"In  an  early  part  of  our  inquiry,  we  traced  back  the 
history  of  the  primary  rooks,  which  composed  the  first 
solid  materials  of  the  globe,  to  a  probable  condition  of 
universal  fusion,  incompatible  wich  the  existence  of 
any  forms  of  organic  life,  and  saw  reason  to  con- 
clude that  as  the  crust  of  the  globe  became  gradually 
reduced  in  temperature,  the  un stratified  crystalline 
rocks,  and  stratified  rocks  produced  by  their  destruc- 
tion, were  disposed  and  modified,  during  long  periods 
of  time,   by  physical   forces,   the    same  in  kind   with 


APPENDIX.  267 

those  which  actually  subsist,  but  more  intense  in 
their  degree  of  operation ;  and  that  the  result  has  been 
to  adapt  our  planet  to  become  the  receptacle  of  divers 
races  of  vegetable  and  animal  beings,  and  finally  to 
render  it  a  fit  and  convenient  habitation  for  mankind." 
— Buckland. 

"  In  the  course  of  our  inquiry,  we  have  found  abun- 
dant proofs,  both  of  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  seve- 
ral successive  systems  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  ; 
each  compelling  us  to  refer  its  origin  to  the  direct 
agency  of  creative  interference." — Ibid. 

"  If  geology  should  seem  to  require  some  little  con- 
cession from  the  literal  interpreter  of  Scripture,  it  may 
fairly  be  held  to  afford  ample  compensation  for  this 
demand,  by  the  large  additions  it  has  made  to  the  evi- 
dences of  natural  religion,  in  a  department  where  reve- 
lation was  not  designed  to  give  information." — Ibid. 

"  There  are  good  grounds  for  supposing  that,  beyond 
a  certain  thickness  for  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth, 
which  can  hardly  be  estimated  at  so  much  as  thirty 
miles,  the  next  contiguous  matter  is  in  a  state  of  fusion, 
at  a  temperature  probably  higher  than  any  that  man 
can  produce  by  artificial  means  ;  or  any  natural  heat 
that  can  exist  on  the  surface." 

"  All  strata  follow  antecedent  ones  in  an  order  which 
is  certain  and  invariable  for  every  region  of  the  earth. 


26*8  APPENDIX. 

Nowhere,  however,  is  the  entire  series  found.  Some 
member  or  many  are  wanting  in  every  assignable 
locality  ;  but  they  are  never  put  in  a  violated  order. 
The  lower  strata,  manifestly  the  most  early,  are  gene- 
rally of  the  greatest  extent  in  length  and  breadth,  and 
very  much  the  deepest  in  thickness.  The  higher  and 
newer  are  severally  of  less  magnitude  in  every  dimen- 
sion. Yet,  in  no  case,  must  the  idea  of  size  or  extent 
be  taken  upon  a  trifling  scale.  Even  with  the  most 
recent,  the  area  of  one  formation  is  often  some  hun- 
dreds of  square  miles." — Smith. 

"There  are  thirty,  or  rather  more,  well  defined  beds, 
layers,  or  strata,  of  different  mineral  masses,  (differ- 
ent in  mineral  composition,)  lying  upon  each  other,  so 
as  to  form  the  surface  of  the  globe  on  which  we  dwell. 
These  combine  themselves,  by  natural  characters,  into 
three  or  four  grand  groups.  Compare  them  to  a  set 
of  books,  in  thirty  or  forty  volumes,  piled  up  on  their 
flat  sides.  They  are  placed  one  over  the  other,  in  a 
sure  and  known  order  of  succession  ;  that  is,  though 
in  every  locality  some  are  wanting,  the  order  of  posi- 
tion is  never  violated." — Ibid. 

"  In  the  older  fossiliferous  rocks,  animal  life  appears 
in  as  full  a  development  with  respect  to  size,  as  in  the 
existing  analogous  animals.  It  does  not  appear  that 
animal  life,  at  that  period,  was  limited  with  respect  to 
number.     The   lower    Silurian  rocks  are  crowded,  in 


APPENDIX.  2G9 

some  localities,  with  organic  bodies  ;  and  their  absence 
over  extensive  districts  is  only  a  condition  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  testacea,  &c,  which  prevails  in  our  seas." 
—Ibid. 

"In  the  superficial  gravel  containing  rolled  blocks 
of  stone,  coming  from  vast  distances,  we  find  bones  of 
the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  &c,  of  extinct  species,  min- 
gled with  bones  of  mammals  of  known  species." — 
Ibid. 

"  The  sources  from  which  the  matter  of  these  eject- 
ed [volcanic]  rocks  ascend,  are  deeply  seated  beneath 
the  granite  ;  but  it  is  not  yet  decided  whether  the  im- 
mediate causes  of  an  eruption  be  the  access  of  water 
to  local  accumulations  of  the  metalloid  bases  of  the 
earths  and  alkalies  ;  or  whether  lava  be  derived  di- 
rectly from  that  general  mass  of  incandescent  elements, 
which  may  probably  exist  at  a  depth  of  about  one 
hundred  miles  beneath  the  surface  of  our  planet.  The 
intrusion  both  of  dykes  and  irregular  beds  of  unstrati- 
fied  crystalline  matter,  into  rocks  of  every  age  and 
every  formation,  all  proceeding  upwards  from  an  un- 
known depth,  and  often  accumulated  into  vast  masses, 
overlying  the  surface  of  stratified  rocks,  are  pheno- 
mena co-extensive  with  the  globe.  Each  individual 
movement  [of  the  volcanic  forces]  has  contributed  its 
share  towards  the  final  object,  of  conducting  the  mol- 
ten materials  of  an  uninhabitable  planet,  through  long 


270 


APPENDIX. 


successions  of  change  and  of  convulsive  movements, 
to  a  ti-anquil  state  of  equilibrium  ;  in  which  it  has  be- 
come the  convenient  and  delightful  habitation  of  man, 
and  of  the  multitudes  of  terrestrial  creatures  that  are 
his  fellow  tenants  of  its  actual  surface." — Buckland. 

"  It  is  from  the  more  ancient  coal  deposits  that  the 
most  extraordinary  evidence  has  been  supplied  in  proof 
of  the  former  existence  of  an  extremely  hot  climate  in 
those  latitudes  which  are  now  the  temperate  and  colder 
regions  of  the  globe.  It  appears  from  the  fossils  of  the 
carboniferous  period,  that  the  flora  [contained]  tree 
ferns,  or  plants  allied  to  them,  from  forty  to  fifty  feet 
in  height ;  and  arborescent  lycopodiacese,  from  sixty  to 
seventy  feet  high.  Of  the  above  classes  of  vegetables, 
the  species  are  all  small  at  present  in  cold  climates ; — 
their  development  even  in  the  hottest  parts  of  the 
globe,  is  now  inferior  to  that  indicated  by  the  petrified 
forms  of  the  coal  formation.  In  regard  to  the  geogra- 
phical extent  of  the  ancient  vegetation,  it  was  not  con- 
fined, says  M.  Brongniart,  to  a  small  space,  as  to  Eu- 
rope for  example ;  for  the  same  forms  are  met  with 
again  at  great  distances.  Thus  the  coal  plants  of 
North  America  are,  for  the  most  part,  identical  with 
those  of  Europe,  and  all  belong  to  the  same  genera. 
The  uninjured  corals  and  chambered  univalves  of  Mel- 
ville Island  [lat.  75°]  and  other  high  latitudes,  suffi- 
ciently prove  that,  during  the  carboniferous  period,  there 
was  an  elevated  temperature,  even  in  northern  regions 


APPENDIX.  271 

bordering  on  the  Arctic  circle.  The  heat  and  humi- 
dity of  the  air,  and  the  uniformity  of  climate,  appear 
to  have  been  most  remarkable  when  the  oldest  strata 
hitherto  discovered  were  formed.  The  approximation 
to  a  climate  similar  to  that  now  enjoyed  in  these  lati- 
tudes, does  not  commence  till  the  era  of  the  formations 
termed  tertiary  ;  and  while  the  different  tertiary  rocks 
were  deposited  in  succession,  the  temperature  seems 
to  have  been  still  farther  lowered,  and  to  have  con- 
tinued to  diminish  gradually,  even  after  the  appear- 
ance upon  the  earth  of  a  great  portion  of  the  existing 
species" — Lyell. 

"  The  upper  bed  of  rock  salt  in  Cheshire  is  twenty- 
six  yards  thick,  and  is  separated  from  the  lower  bed 
of  salt  by  a  stratum  of  argillaceous  stone  ten  yards 
thick.  The  lower  salt  has  been  penetrated  forty  yards. 
In  another  part  of  Cheshire  three  beds  of  rock  salt  have 
been  found.  The  uppermost  is  four  feet  thick,  the  se- 
cond twelve,  and  the  lower  has  been  penetrated  twenty- 
five  yards,  but  is  not  cut  through.  The  rock  salt  at 
Cardona,  in  Spain,  is  663  feet  in  height.  Hungary  and 
Poland  afford  the  most  numerous  and  extensive  reposi- 
tories of  rock  salt  in  Europe.  The  beds  are  inclined 
at  an  angle  of  40°.  There  is  an  extensive  formation 
stretching  on  each  side  of  the  Carpathian  mountains 
for  600  miles.  In  the  lofty  deserts  of  Caramania  in 
Asia, — in  Great  Tartary,  Thibet,  and  Indostan,  this 
mineral  is  also  found.     In  the  elevated  mountains  of 


272  APPENDIX. 

Feru,  it  is  said  to  occur  at  the  height  of  9000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  In  the  desert  of  Lybia 
there  is  an  extensive  bed  ;  and  it  is  found  in  .South 
Africa,  New  South  Wales,  and  in  various  islands." — - 
Bakewell. 

"  Taken  as  an  illustration  of  the  structure  of  the 
crust  of  our  globe,  the  successive  coats  of  an  onion,  if 
they  were  of  different  colors,  might  not  unaptly  repre- 
sent the  different  strata  that  cover  certain  districts. 
The  different  strata  which  occur  under  each  other,  are 
not  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  density  or  specific 
gravity.  Coal  strata,  for  instance,  are  often  covered 
with  strata  of  iron  stone,  the  specific  gravity  of  which 
is  more  than  twice  that  of  coal.  Prim  Hive  rocks  were 
so  called  because  no  fossil  remains  of  animals  or  vege- 
tables, nor  any  fragments  of  other  rocks,  were  found 
imbedded  in  them.  Those  rocks  generally  occur  in 
immense  masses  or  beds  ;  they  form  the  lowest  part  of 
the  earth's  surface  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  and 
constitute  the  foundation  on  which  rocks  of  the  other 
classes  are  laid.  The  rocks  which  immediately  cover 
them  contain,  almost  exclusively,  the  organic  remains 
of  the  lowest  class  of  animals.  The  lower  series  of 
secondary  rocks  are  almost  all  distinctly  stratified. 
Every  regular  stratum  in  which  organic  remains  are  dis- 
seminated, was  once  the  uppermost  rock,  however  deep 
it  may  be  below  the  present  surface.  If  it  had  been 
predicted  a  century  ago,  that  a  volume  would  be  discov- 


APPENDIX.  273 

ered,  containing  the  natural  history  of  the  earliest  in- 
habitants of  the  globe,  which  flourished  and  perished 
before  the  creation  of  man,  what  curiosity  would  have 
been  excited  to  see  this  wonderful  volume  ;  how  anxious- 
ly would  philosophers  have  waited  for  the  discovery  ! 
But  this  volume  is  now  discovered  ;  it  is  the  volume  of 
nature,  rich  with  the  spoils  of  primeval  ages,  unfolded 
to  the  view  of  the  attentive  observer,  in  the  strata  that 
compose  the  crust  of  the  globe.  .Some  of  the  more  de- 
licately constructed  animals,  and  the  fish  whose  bodies 
are  found  entire,  imbedded  in  stone,  appear  to  have 
been  instantaneously  destroyed  and  enveloped  in  mine- 
ral matter,  before  the  putrefactive  process  could  com- 
mence. Stratified  rocks  are  composed  of  layers  of 
stone,  laid  over  each  other,  and  divided  by  parallel 
seams  like  the  leaves  of  a  closed  book.  In  these  seams 
or  partings,  which  divide  the  strata,  there  are  fre- 
quently thin  laminae  of  soft  earthy  matter ;  but  some- 
times the  surfaces  of  the  upper  and  lower  stratum  are 
so  closely  joined  that  it  requires  a  considerable  force 
to  separate  them.  The  highest  known  point  at  which 
granite  has  been  observed,  in  any  part  of  the  world,  is 
Mont  Blanc — 15,680  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
In  the  northern  or  Swiss  Alps,  granite  is  seen  only  near 
their  bases ;  the  summits  are  composed  of  immense 
beds  of  stratified  rocks.  In  the  extensive  range  of  the 
Andes,  granite  has  not  been  found  in  a  greater  eleva- 
tion than  11,500  feet.  The  summits  of  the  Himma- 
leh  mountains  are  believed  to  be  composed  of  second- 


274 


APPENDIX. 


ary  strata.  Though  granite  may  be  regarded  as  the 
lowest  known  rock  formation,  yet  it  is  certain,  that  in 
many  countries,  the  seat  of  volcanic  fire  is  placed  be- 
low granite.  All  rocks  under  the  coal  formation,  be- 
long either  to  the  transition  or  primary  class ;  and  all 
the  strata  above  the  coal  formation  belong  either  to  the 
upper,  secondary,  or  the  tertiary  class.  The  different 
strata  under  a  bed  of  coal  are  frequently  similar  to  the 
strata  over  it ;  and  the  same  series  is  again  repeated 
under  the  lower  beds  of  coal,  and  sometimes  with  a 
perfect  similarity  both  in  the  succession  and  thickness 
of  each.  The  thickness  of  the  coal  strata  in  the  same 
coal-field  often  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  several 
yards  ;  but  each  stratum  generally  preserves  the  same 
thickness  throughout  its  whole  extent.  A  dyke  is  a 
wall  of  mineral  matter  cutting  through  the  strata  in  a 
position  nearly  vertical.  The  great  coal  formation 
appears  to  be  confined  to  the  lower  secondary  strata, 
generally  resting  on  transition  limestone.  A  remark- 
able coal  formation  occurs  in  Switzerland  at  the  depth 
of  280  feet  from  the  surface  ;  over  the  coal  there  is  a 
stratum  of  bituminous  limestone,  containing  fluviatile 
shells,  and  bones  and  teeth  of  the  large  mammalia, 
particularly  the  teeth  of  a  species  of  mastodon.  Were 
it  not  for  the  organic  remains  in  different  rocks,  we 
could  not  be  certain  that  all  rock  formations  were  not 
contemporaneous.  "With  respect  to  the  identity  of  age, 
or  what  is  pedantically  named  the  synchronism  of  rock 
formations  in  distant  countries,  there  can  be  little  hcsi- 
12' 


APPENDIX.  275 

tation  in  admitting  it,  where  the  association  with 
other  rock  formations  is  similar  in  both  countries.  The 
disintegration  of  rocks  and  mountains  is  constantly- 
taking  place  by  the  incessant  operation  of  the  ele- 
ments."— Bakewell. 


"The  following  Geological  doctrines  are  derived  from 
the  preceding  extracts,  and  others  elsewhere  inserted, 
and  from  other  passages  in  the  writings  of  the  same 
authors. 

1.  That  the  globe  was  at  first  in  a  state  of  igneous 
fluidity  ;  and  that  the  process  by  which  its  surface  be- 
came cooled  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a*crust  of 
granite  or  crystalline  rocks. 

2.  That  the  surfaces  of  these  rocks  were,  by  the 
combined  action  of  air  and  water,  worn  down  and 
floated  from  higher  to  lower  levels  in  running  water, 
and  deposited  at  the  bottom  of  seas,  lakes,  &c,  in  lay- 
ers, beds,  or  strata. 

3.  That  these  strata,  though  differing  widely  from 
each  other  in  their  composition,  are  respectively  formed 
of  homogeneous  materials,  and  in  an  order  of  succes- 
sion which  is  uniform  ;  that  the  lower  members  of  the 
series  are  much  thicker,  and  occupy  areas  of  larger  ex- 
tent, than  those  above  them,  and  especially  those 
nearest  the  present  surface ;  and  that  they  were  de- 
posited in  a  position  horizontal  or  nearly  so. 

4.  That  the  entire  series  of  stratified  formations  was 
effected  by  the  slow  and  gradual  operations  of  those 


276  APPENDIX. 

second  causes,  mechanical  and  chemical,  which  are  at 
present  producing  analogous  results ;  and  that  the  pro- 
cess occupied  inconceivable  periods  of  duration. 

5.  That  when  by  this  process,  and  by  the  elevation 
of  the  deposits  formed  under  seas,  or  otherwise,  por- 
tions of  dry  land  appeared,  certain  plants  and  animals 
were  created  to  occupy  them  ;  and  subsequently,  from 
time  to  time,  new  creations  of  organic  beings,  terres- 
trial and  marine,  took  place.  That  the  remains  of 
many  of  the  plants  and  animals,  which  were  created 
and  flourished  successively  at  different  periods,  were 
buried  in  the  slow  process  by  which  the  successive 
stratifications  were  formed,  and  are  now  discovered  in 
a  fossil  state ;  and  that  the  strata  were  subsequently 
upheaved  by  forces  from  below,  to  various  degrees  of 
inclination  and  elevation. 

6.  That  the  object  of  the  stratifications,  and  other 
changes  referred  to,  was  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  earth,  and  fit  it  to  be  the  abode  of  man. 

7.  That  after  the  complement  of  geological  changes 
had  been  effected,  and  the  stratified  series  ended,  the 
whole  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  chaos  or  confusion, 
darkness  and  ruin  ;  and  was  reconstructed  and  arranged 
so  as  to  be  fit  for  the  reception  of  man,  conformably 
to  the  account  of  the  "  six  days"  operations  recorded 
by  Moses.  [Held  by  those  who  desire  to  show  that 
their  theory  is  consistent  with  the  Mosaic  account]. 

8.  That  in  the  progress  of  those  changes,  or  at  some 
period,  the  climate  both  of  the  northern  and  southern 


APPENDIX.  277 

hemisphere,  and  especially  of  the  polar  regions,  was 
changed  from  a  state  of  tropical  heat  and  productive- 
ness to  a  state  of  extreme  coldness  and  sterility. 

9.  That  since  the  date  of  the  creation,  as  recorded 
by  Moses,  the  same  mechanical  and  chemical  causes 
which  operated  the  preceding  geological  changes,  have 
been  at  work,  but  have  produced  but  slight  effects,  at 
least  within  the  last  3000  years. 

10.  That  the  result  of  the  whole  is,  that  the  state  of 
the  earth  is,  and  has  been,  since  the  date  of  the  Mosaic 
creation,  peculiarly  fitted  to  be  the  residence,  and  to 
subserve  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  man. 


"It  is  in  harmony  with  what  the  Scriptures  teach,  to 
affirm  that  the  earth  as  originally  created  was  as  per- 
fect in  its  kind,  as  man  or  any  of  the  creatures  formed  to 
occupy  it  in  a  state  of  innocence  and  enjoyment  ;  per- 
fect for  the  perennial  and  happy  abode  of  man  in  his  ori- 
ginal character  ;  perfect  in  the  nature  and  combination 
of  the  materials  of  its  surface,  for  the  spontaneous  and 
boundless  production  and  support  of  plants  and  an- 
imals ;  perfect  in  all  its  conditions  and  adaptations, 
its  temperature,  its  climates,  its  atmosphere,  its  free- 
dom from  everything  noxious,  everything  tending  to 
disease  and  dissolution. 

"It  surely  will  not  be  denied  that  the  character  of 
man  in  his  primeval  state,  his  relations  to  the  lower 
animals,  his  physical  circumstances,  the  career  as- 
signed to  him  in  case  of  his  obedience,  the  complete- 


278 


APPENDIX. 


ness,  the  harmony,  the  bliss  of  the  entire  scene,  re- 
quired a  far  different  state  of  the  earth,  of  the  materials 
which  compose  its  surface,  of  its  climates,  its  atmos- 
phere, and  its  products  as  to  their  quality,  spontaniety, 
and  abundance,  from  that  which  now  exists ;  far  dif- 
ferent, indeed,  from  the  conditions  and  adaptations, 
which  it  is  in  the  nature  of  geological  changes,  how- 
ever long-continued,  to  produce ;  far  different  from  any- 
thing indicated  in  that  re-construction  and  fitting  up, 
and  subjection  to  a  continued  and  ceaseless  process  of 
change,  which  the  geologists  inform  us  of.  That  pri- 
meval epoch  and  condition  of  man  assuredly  implies  a 
state  of  the  earth  which  needed  no  improvement,  no 
progressive  course  of  physical  changes,  no  geological 
processes  to  perfect  its  adaptations.  Can  any  one 
bring  himself  to  think  that  if  man  had  not  sinned  and 
brought  upon  himself  misery  and  death  ;  that  if  he 
had  continued  holy,  and  had  consequently  been  ex- 
empted from  all  evil,  and  confirmed  in  a  life  of  perpet- 
ual innocence  and  blessedness,  the  physical  conditions 
of  the  earth  would  be  such  as  we  find  them  ?  That 
any  such  changes,  catastrophes,  cataclysms,  derange- 
ments, eruptions,  transitions  of  climate,  as  have  taken 
place,  would  have  been  consistent  with  what  his  well- 
being  required  ?  That  it  was  at  first  and  prior  to  his 
apostacy,  more  imperfect  than  it  has  been  since,  and 
therefore  required  to  be  improved  by  a  perpetual 
course  of  geological  changes  ? 
"In  short,  is  it  not  reasonable  and  safe  to  conclude, 


APPENDIX, 


279 


that  if  the  Scripture  account  of  the  creation  and  fall 
of  man  is  to  be  believed  ;  if  man  originally  was  holy 
and  happy  ;  if  he  fell  from  that  estate,  and  by  his  fall 
brought  death  and  woe  into  the  world  ;  the  theory  of 
the  geologists  as  to  the  causes  and  manner  of  the 
changes  which  have  occurred,  cannot  be  correct. 


"If  there  was  a  reason  for  the  creation  of  matter  and 
of  man,  a  reason  in  the  view  of  the  Creator,  who 
seeth  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  whose  counsels 
and  purposes  are  eternal,  it  doubtless  embraced  and 
had  relation  to,  all  their  conditions  and  history.  And 
since  various,  peculiar,  and  extraordinary  Divine  in- 
terpositions have  undeniably  attended  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  moral  and  physical 
character  and  condition  of  man  ;  why  should  there  be 
such  reluctance  and  dread  to  refer  the  changes  in  the 
condition  of  the  earth  to  unusual  interpositions  of  that 
power  which  created,  upholds,  and  governs  all  ?  The 
history  of  man  is  intimately  connected  with  that  of  the 
irrational  and  material  world.  It  is  scarcely  bordering 
on  the  figurative  to  say,  that  when  man  fell,  "  nature 
through  all  her  works  gave  signs  of  woe."  This  con- 
nection and  joint  participation  in  catastrophes  and 
changes  marks  all  their  subsequent  course,  and  the 
prophetic  announcements  indicate  that  the  close  of 
that  course  of  things,  in  which  they  have  been  so  as- 
sociated, ,vhen  changes  in  their  respective  condition 
shall  be  completed,  will  be  no  less  signally  marked  by 


280  APPENDIX. 

extraordinary  interpositions  than  their  creation,  and 
the  establishment  of  their  relations  originally,  was. 
How,  then,  without  violence  to  all  analogy  and  propri- 
ety, can  it  be  supposed  that  the  earth,  in  the  whole 
course  of  the  changes  it  has  undergone,  was  left  to  the 
operation  of  the  laios  of  nature,  any  more  than  that 
all  the  phenomena  of  the  moral  and  physical  history 
of  man  should  be  ascribed  to  the  operation  of  those 
laws  ?  Can  the  supposition  be  made  without  virtual- 
ly excluding,  in  both  cases,  all  interference  on  the 
part  of  the  Creator,  after  the  establishment  of  those 
laws;  all  miracles,  changes  of  dispensations,  and,  in  a 
word,  excluding  revelation,  and  investing  the  laws  of 
nature  with  an  all-pervading  efficiency  ? 


"But  what  are  the  laws  of  nature,  so  familiarly  re- 
ferred to  by  our  philosophers,  as  if  they  had  an  ab- 
stract and  independent  existence  and  efficiency,  and 
implied  something  different  from  facts,  qualities, 
effects,  or  other  phenomena  observed.  They  really 
mean  nothing,  and  are  nothing,  more  than  our  mode 
of  indicating  or  expressing  the  facts,  qualities,  or  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  phenomena  observed  are  per- 
ceived to  agree.  We  call  the  uniformity  or  constancy 
of  such  agreement  a  law,  as  if  it  was  the  cause  or 
reason  of  the  phenomena.  We  impose  upon  ourselves 
by  this  high-sounding  name,  and  by  calling  all  that  is 
back  of  it,  nature,  because  we  perceive  nothing  but  the 
phenomena,  and  their  coincidence  or  agreement.     In 


APPENDIX.  281 

this  way  the  Divine  efficiency  may  be,  and  often  is,  as 
truly  excluded,  as  it  would  be  if  we  should  say  in 
plain  terms,  that  the  facts,  qualities,  and  circum- 
stances which  we  observe,  are  their  own  cause. 


"The  rules  of  philosophizing  restrain  the  geologist 
from  supposing  a  preternatural  cause,  when  he  can  as- 
sign any  other.  Hence  so  large  a  part  of  his  atten- 
tion is  taken  up  in  discovering  how  effects  might  have 
been  produced  by  natural  causes.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  phenomena  of  Geology  which  would  not  be  much 
better  accounted  for,  if  produced  rapidly  by  special 
Divine  interposition,  than  it  can  be  by  any  gradual  and 
ordinary  operation  of  natural  causes.  And  all  that  is 
wanting,  in  any  case,  is  the  admission  of  a  sufficient 
reason  for  special  or  extraordinary  interpositions.  For, 
as  such  interpositions  have  undeniably  taken  place  in 
relation  to  this  world,  both  in  the  creation  of  it,  and  in 
various  dispensations  to  man,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  to  hinder  them,  or  to  render  their 
recurrence  improbable,  whenever  there  was  a  reason. 

"But  let  it  be  distinctly  noted,  that  if  the  geological 
theory  is  true,  then  all  that  belongs  to  the  moral 
system  must  be  excluded  from  consideration  in  ex- 
amining the  physical  changes  in  the  earth.  And  this, 
in  truth,  is  just  what  the  philosophers  hold  to.  For 
natural  causes,  the  laws  of  nature  are  permanent  and 
uniform,  and  in  their  ordinary  operation  can  produce 
no  other  than  ordinary  natural  effects.     Nothing  for- 


282  APPENDIX. 

eign  to  those  effects  could,  therefore,  enter  into  the 
case.  Those  causes  might  go  on  in  one  steady  course, 
but  they  could  work  no  miracles  to  adapt  themselves, 
or  their  operations,  to  the  exigencies  of  a  moral  system 
or  the  demands  of  moral  causes.  If  those  natural 
causes  involve  in  their  operations  anything  of  design, 
it  must  be  a  design  coeval  with  their  origin  and  inhe- 
rent in  them.  To  talk  of  their  being  controlled  and 
directed  to  any  other  or  different  end,  is  to  talk  of  a 
miracle,  as  much  as  in  the  case  of  results  contrary  to, 
or  far  transcending  the  power  of  those  causes.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  the  geologists  speak  of  design,  they 
mean  the  original  and  general  design  of  improving  the 
condition  of  the  earth,  and  fitting  it  for  the  conve- 
nience of  man.  In  a  word,  to  ascribe  the  changes  in 
the  earth  to  these  natural  causes,  is  in  plain  terms  to 
exclude  moral  causes  and  special  reasons  altogether. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  if  those  changes  are  due 
to  moral  and  special  causes  or  reasons ;  causes  wholly 
foreign  in  their  nature  to  anything  incident  to  the 
laws  of  nature,  there  is  nothing  in  those  laws  to 
hinder  or  interfere  with  the  results.  Those  natural 
causes  may  be,  as  far  as  they  go,  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  changes — all  the  mechanical  and  chemical 
agencies  may  be  employed  in  producing  them,  though 
the  changes  themselves  may  be  such,  in  their  magni- 
tude and  rapidity  of  occurrence,  as  those  agencies, 
left  to  themselves,  would  never  operate. 
"Now  the  earth  presents  to  us  indubitable  evidence 


APPENDIX.  283 

of  vast  and  manifold  changes.  These  the  geologist 
refers  to  the  gradual  operation  of  natural  causes,  and 
assigns  to  them  the  object  of  improving  the  earth. 
The  Scriptures  bring  to  our  view  moral  reasons  for 
these  changes,  which  reasons,  however,  are  excluded 
from  all  connection  with  the  changes,  both  by  the  mode 
in  which,  on  the  geological  theory,  they  were  pro- 
duced, and  by  their  occurrence  long  and  long  before 
the  Scripture  era.  Those  moral  reasons,  therefore,  are 
wholly  shut  out  and  at  least  virtually  denied. 
They  have  never  had  any  counterpart.  That  which 
they  were  reasons  for,  and  which  they  required,  has 
never  taken  place.  A  curse  was  denounced  upon 
the  earth,  but  it  has  never  been  executed.  The  earth 
has  been  improved  by  the  Laws  of  Nature,  but  never 
visited  for  any  violation  of  Moral  Laws. 


"The  geologists  treat  the  whole  subject  of  the  earth, 
its  origin,  its  object,  its  condition  and  history,  during 
the  alleged  incalculable  periods,  and  down  to  the  close 
of  those  physical  changes  which  constitute  the  field  of 
their  research,  just  as  they  would  if  there  were  extant 
no  records  of  inspiration  ;  just  as  they  would,  on  sup- 
position that  its  creation  involved  no  moral  purposes, 
that  it  was  not  intended  as  the  scene  of  a  stupendous 
system  of  moral  exhibitions,  agency,  and  government ; 
a  scene  for  the  trial  and  discipline  of  accountable 
agents,  and  for  the  most  varied  and  wondrous  mani- 
festations on  the  part  of  their  Creator  ;  just  as  they 


284  APPENDIX. 

would,  if  there  had  been  no  sin,  no  penal  announce- 
ments or  visitations,  no  Mediatorial  interposition,  no 
redemption  achieved,  or  resurrection  and  retribution 
foretold. 

"They  begin  by  supposing  the  matter  of  the  globe  to 
have  been  somehow  detached  from  some  nebular  mass, 
and  thrust  into  its  orbit  in  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity  ; 
where,  becoming  subject  to  those  laws  of  Nature,  which 
in  accounting  for  physical  phenomena,  are  an  unfailing 
resource,  it  necessarily  assumed  an  oblate  form.  By 
a  course  of  natural  processes  its  surface  at  length  be- 
came partially  cooled  and  solid,  and  acquired  a  soil. 
At  this  stage  of  its  progress,  the  only  uses  and  pur- 
poses to  be  subserved  by  it,  which  are  indicated  in  the 

whole  course  of  the  geological  period,  began  to  be  dis- 
closed by  the  appearance  of  certain  vegetables  and  rep- 
tiles. Successive  creations,  growths,  and  inhumations, 
occupied  myriads  of  ages.  If  there  was  any  intelli- 
gent design,  object,  or  purpose  in  this,  any  discovera- 
ble or  probable  use  or  intention,  it  was  only  that  of 
giving  an  existence  to  irrational  creatures,  with  such 
enjoyment  as  they  were  capable  of.  There  were  no 
intelligible  creatures  present  to  witness  their  happi- 
ness, or  to  observe  anything  of  wisdom,  or  of  good- 
ness in  their  formation  or  condition.  In  all  excepting 
their  brute  enjoyments,  they  existed  for  no  higher 
purpose,  and  answered  no  higher  end,  than  the  unor- 
ganized matter  around  them,  unless  the  preservation  of 
their   relics   to    be  invoked    in  these   last  times,   and 


APPENDIX.  2S5 

made  to  testify  against  the  volume  of  revelation,  be 
claimed  for  them  as  a  merit.  They  occupied,  during 
countless  ages,  a  mute  and  solitary  world,  which  per- 
formed its  ceaseless  revolutions,  lighted  by  the  same 
sun  by  day,  and  by  the  same  moon  and  stars  by  night, 
that  were  afterwards,  when  all  their  generations  had 
become  extinct,  appointed  to  perform  those  services 
for  man. 

"  Should  any  one,  speculating  on  the  fact  that  tropi- 
cal plants  and  animals  once  flourished  as  profusely  in 
the  Arctic  as  in  the  Equatorial  regions,  conclude  that 
the  sun  must  have  been  created  for  the  special  purpose 
of  furnishing  the  extraordinary  quantity  of  light  and 
heat  required  at  the  poles  under  those  circumstances, 
and  proceed  to  establish  his  inference  by  referring  to 
the  fossil  remains  of  those  regions,  specifying,  as  to 
the  plants,  their  extreme  dimensions,  luxuriance  of 
growth,  and  other  particulars,  and,  as  to  the  animals, 
from  the  minutest  families  of  indusiae  to  the  largest 
mammalia,  the  fact  that  they  had  eyes  as  well  as 
stomachs  ;  and  should  he  go  on  to  infer,  that  the  sun, 
having  performed  this  important  office  during  countless 
a^es,  and  supplied  all  the  light  and  heat  which  were 
necessary  during  the  long  nights  of  his  absence,  as 
well  as  during  the  alternate  periods  of  his  visibility  in 
the  respective  polar  circles,  till  "  the  great  year  of  geo- 
logy" had  elapsed,  was  shorn  of  his  superfluous  beams, 
and  restricted  in  his  office,  when,  for  the  reception 
and  accommodation  of  man,  the  earth  was  reconstruct- 


28G  APPENDIX. 

ed,  and  brought  into  that  improved  and  felicitous  con- 
dition which  it  now  enjoys,  with  its  congealed  arctics, 
its  frigid  and  torrid  zones,  and  the  storms,  vicissitudes, 
and  uncertainties  of  its  temperate  latitudes  ;  he  would 
but  exemplify  the  spirit  of  that  theory,  which,  under 
the  intoxicating  influence  of  novel  discoveries  and  in- 
comprehensible facts,  and  in  all  the  affectation  and 
pride  of  science,  seeks  to  make  the  earth  its  own  inter- 
preter, disregarding  or  postponing  all  consideration  of 
the  inspired  volume  ;  he  would  but  exhibit  the  spirit 
of  that  philosophy  which  discerns  more  light  in  the 
phosphorescence  of  a  lizard's  bones,  than  in  the  orb  of 
day — more  meaning  in  a  fossil  shell,  than  in  the  sacrea 
oracle. 

"The  most  stupendous  fact,  within  the  cognizance  of 
man,  in  the  whole  field  of  his  observation  and  research, 
is  the  existence  of  that  volume  which  discloses  to  us 
all  that  we  know  of  the  invisible  ;  all'that  we  know,  or 
can  divine,  of  the  final  causes,  reasons,  purposes,  de- 
signs, of  the  creation,  of  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants, 
and  of  the  changes  they  have  undergone,  or  are  yet 
to  undergo.  When  regardless  of  this  source  of  in- 
formation, the  philosopher  of  a  fallen  race,  worn  to  a 
skeleton  by  the  labor  of  his  physical  researches,  and 
mentally  subdued  by  the  hallucination  of  a  single  idea, 
sets  himself  to  account  for  the  facts  which  he  discov- 
ers, reasoning  from  an  infinite  variety  of  details  to  the 
reasons  and  causes  of  them,  we  need  not  wonder  at  his 
credulity,  his  presumption,  his  monstrous  theories,  his 


APPENDIX.  287 

dogmatism,  his  intolerance,  his  skepticism.  When  he 
puts  that  volume  aside  for  teaching  what  he  does  not 
like,  or  because  he  deems  it  too  modern,  too  unphilo- 
sophical,  or  too  obscure,  to  throw  any  light  upon  his 
science,  he  turns  away  from  its  author,  fixes  his  gaze 
upon  a  world  of  creatures,  unassociated  with  any 
direct  or  certain  connection  with  the  power  or  wisdom 
of  a  Creator,  and  plunges  into  the  dark  charnel-house 
of  petrifactions,  and  the  illimitable  vortex  of  duration. 
Science,  indeed,  helps  him  in  the  discovery  of  facts  ; 
but,  in  reasoning  on  them,  he  exhibits  only  the  blind- 
ness and  imbecility  of  those  unassisted  faculties,  which 
he  employs  in  that  process.  Were  he  content  to  ab- 
stain from  theorizing,  from  attempts  to  be  wise  in 
what  is  far  beyond  his  sphere ;  content  with  the  dis- 
covery and  disclosure  of  facts  without  affecting  to  ac- 
count for  them,  he  would  deserve  respect  and  applause 
for  the  toil  he  undergoes,  the  patience,  the  self-denial, 
the  diligence,  the  skill,  the  perseverance,  evinced  by 
his  researches,  and  for  the  practical  utility  of  his 
labors.  But  when  he  treats  the  Book  of  Divine  reve- 
lation with  contempt,  and  sets  up  his  wisdom  in  its 
place,  it  is  quite  too  much  for  him  to  claim  or  receive 
the  sympathy  and  homage  of  any  Doctors  of  Divinity, 
or  other  "  professed  friends,"  whose  regard  for  that 
Book  exceeds  their  ambition  to  be  thought  learned  in 
physical  science,  and  who  would  not  purchase  the  re- 
putation, by  swallowing,  blindfold,  any  dose  prepared 
for  them. 


28S  APPENDIX. 

"A  brief  notice  of  the  opinions  of  the  geological 
writers,  as  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  Noachian  Deluge 
to  account  for  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  or  any  considerable  portion  of 
them,  is  subjoined,  not  with  a  view  to  suggest  or  sup- 
port any  theory  of  the  effects  of  that  catastrophe,  as  to 
their  extent,  or  the  mode  of  operation  by  which  they 
were  produced.  The  Scripture  narrative  is  delivered 
in  such  terms  as  to  authorize  the  belief  that  the  effects 
of  that  visitation  were  as  extensive  as  the  object  and 
reason  of  it  can,  to  any  one,  appear  to  have  required. 
The  narrative  gives  it  all  the  characters  of  an  extraor- 
dinary visitation  of  Divine  Providence.  It  was  a  curse 
upon  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants.  "  (rod  looked 
upon  the  earth,  and  behold  it  was  corrupt :  for  all 
flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth.  And 
Grod  said  unto  Noah,  the  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  be- 
fore me  :  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through 
them :  and  behold,  I  will  destroy  them  with  the  earth. 
And  behold  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon 
the  earth,  to  destroy  all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath 
of  life,  from  under  heaven  :  and  everything  that  is  in 
the  earth  shall  die.  And  all  flesh  died  that  moved 
upon  the  earth,  both  of  fowl  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast, 
and  of  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the 
earth,  and  every  man  :  all  in  whose  nostrils  was  the 
breath  of  life,  of  all  that  was  in  the  dry  land  died. 
And  every  living  substance  was  destroyed  which  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  both  man,  and  cattle, 


APPENDIX.  289 

and  the  creeping  things,  and  the  fowl  of  heaven  ;  and 
they  were  destroyed  from  the  earth ;  and  Noah  only 
remained  alive,  and  they  that  were  with  him  in  the 
ark."  Immediately  after  the  event,  "  The  Lord  said, 
I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for  man's 
sake  ;  for  [or  though]  the  imagination  of  man's  heart 
is  evil  from  his  youth  ;  neither  will  I  again  smite  any 
more  every  thing  living,  as  I  have  done."  And  to 
Noah  and  his  sons,  He  said,  "  I  will  establish  my 
covenant  with  you  ;  neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut  offany 
more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood  ;  neither  shall  there  any 
more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth." 
"Mr.  Lyell,  in  his  brief  notice  of  the  "  Supposed 
effects  of  the  Flood,"  alludes  to  the  opinions  which 
had  been  entertained  among  the  learned,  on  the  ques- 
tion "  whether  the  Deluge  of  the  Scriptures  was  uni- 
versal in  reference  to  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe, 
or  only  so  with  respect  to  that  portion  of  it  which  was 
then  inhabited  by  man.  On  the  latter  supposition,  he 
thinks  such  an  event  might  be  accounted  for  by  the 
sudden  outbreak  of  "  extensive  lakes  elevated  above  the 
level  of  the  ocean,"  as  Lake  Superior  is  ;  or  by  the  de- 
pression of  large  tracts  of  dry  land  below  that  level. 
He  refers  to  volcanic  and  other  phenomena,  as  indicat- 
ing the  improbability  of  the  Flood  having  been  univer- 
sal ;  and  observes,  "that  in  the  narrative  of  Moses 
there  are  no  terms  employed  that  indicate  the  impetu- 
ous rushing  of  the  waters,  either  as  they  rose,  or  when 
they  retired.  On  the  contrary,  the  olive  branch 
13 


290  APPENDIX. 

brought  back  by  the  Dove,  seems  as  clear  an  indica- 
tion to  us,  that  the  vegetation  was  not  destroyed,  as 
it  was  then  to  Noah,  that  the  dry  land  was  about  to 
appear." 

"He  concludes  as  follows  :  "  For  my  own  part,  I 
have  always  considered  the  Flood,  when  its  univer- 
sality, in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term,  is  insisted 
upon,  as  a  preternatural  event  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
philosophical  inquiry,  whether,  as  to  the  causes  em- 
ployed to  produce  it,  or  the  effects  most  likely  to  re- 
sult from  it.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  clear  that  they 
who  are  desirous  of  pointing  out  the  coincidence  of 
geological  phenomena  with  the  occurrence  of  such  a 
general  catastrophe,  must  neglect  no  one  of  the  cir- 
cumstances enumerated  in  the  Mosaic  history,  least  of 
all  so  remarkable  a  fact  as  that  the  olive  remained 
standing  while  the  waters  were  abating."  The  appa- 
rent candor  of  the  former  of  these  sentences  is  wanting 
in  the  latter.  The  history  does  not  affirm  that  the 
olive  remained  standing  till  the  waters  were  wholly 
withdrawn,  as  the  sentence  seems  intended  to  imply. 
And  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  Noah  waited  more  than 
three  months  longer  before  he  left  the  ark. 

"The  following  remarks  are  suggested  by  the  views 
of  this  writer. 

1.  He  wholly  omits  all  reference  to  any  moral 
reasons  for  the  Deluge,  whether  that  event  was  local 
or  universal,  preternatural,  or  only  the  effect  of  natu- 
ral causes. 


APPENDIX. 


291 


2.  He  assumes  that  those  who  believe  the  Deluge 
to  have  been  preternatural  and  universal,  are  justly  to 
be  expected  to  point  out  the  coincidence  of  geological 
phenomena  with  such  a  general  catastrophe.  "Which 
is  as  much  as  to  say  that  one  can  have  no  sufficient 
grounds  for  such  a  belief,  unless  he  can  point  out  such 
coincidence  ;  that  the  evidences  of  geological  pheno- 
mena, that  is,  the  inferences  made  therefrom,  are 
superior  to  all  other  sources  of  evidence,  and  are  to  be 
taken  as  the  criterion  in  deciding  what  the  Scriptures 
teach.  It  might,  with  equal  reason,  be  said,  that  he 
who  learns  from  the  Bible,  and  believes  on  that  autho- 
rity that  there  was  a  moral  reason  for  the  creation  of 
the  world  out  of  nothing,  must  show  how  such  creation 
could  be  effected,  and  point  out  the  coincidence  of  geo- 
logical phenomena  with  his  notion  of  such  a  process  ; 
and  that  he  who,  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  be- 
lieves in  a  resurrection,  should  be  able  to  explain, 
"  How  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  with  what  body 
they  do  come." 

3.  He  refers  to  the  olive  leaf  as  the  most  remark- 
able circumstance  in  the  narrative,  against  the  suppo- 
sition, that  the  flood  produced  any  considerable  effects  ; 
as  though  the  narrative  in  that  particular  was  to  be 
taken  literally,  and  relied  on,  without  even  an  attempt 
at  explanation,  though  apparently  inconsistent  with 
other  parts  of  the  history 

4.  His  work,  at  large,  is  occupied  in  so  accounting 
fur  the  changes  in  the  earth,  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be 


292  APPENDIX. 

accomplished  by  the  flood.  In  accomplishing  this 
task,  however,  he  treats  of  the  upheaval  of  mountains 
to  account  for  existing  phenomena,  in  a  way,  and 
with  illustrations  respecting  their  composition,  and  the 
existence  of  sedimentary  deposits  on  their  highest 
summits,  which  may  well  justify  the  supposition,  that 
such  upheaval  may  have  occurred,  for  the  most  part, 
since  the  epoch  of  the  Deluge,  and  the  change  of  cli- 
mates ;  and  that  there  were  no  very  elevated  summits 
prior  to  that  epoch. 
"The  whole  time,  from  the  day  on  which  "  all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  the 
windows  of  heaven  were  opened,"  to  the  going  forth 
from  the  ark,  was  twelve  months  and  ten  days,  or  370 
days.  The  ark  rested  on  the  150th  day  ;  on  the  223d 
day  the  tops  of  the  mountains  were  seen.  Forty-seven 
days  after  that,  or  on  the  270th  day,  the  Dove  returned 
with  an  olive  leaf.  It  was  still  100  days  before  the 
earth  was  dry  enough  to  permit  Noah  to  leave  the  ark. 
Now  if  the  flood  was  as  long  rising  as  falling,  its  sub- 
sidence commenced  on  the  185th  day,  in  which  case 
more  than  half  the  time  of  subsidence  elapsed  after 
the  return  of  the  Dove  ;  if  the  subsidence  commenced 
immediately  after  the  ark  rested,  then  nearly  half  the 
time  occupied  by  that  process  passed  after  the  return 
of  the  Dove.  In  either  case,  if  the  flood  was  preterna- 
tural and  universal,  and  covered  the  tops  of  the  highest 
mountains  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  cubits,  or  twenty-six 
and  a  quarter  feet,  then  the  fall  during  the  first  half 


APPENDIX.  293 

of  the  time  occupied  by  the  subsidence  can  hardly  be 
conceived  to  have  been  such  as  to  expose  any  part  of 
the  general  surface  near  the  base  of  the  mountain. 

"If  the  tree  grew  on  the  mountain  itself  upon  which 
the  ark  rested,  midway,  or  at  a  higher  or  a  lower  point, 
between  its  summit  and  the  level  of  the  surrounding 
country,  then  it  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  main- 
tained  its  position,  since  the  mountain  remained,  what- 
ever changes  took  place  elsewhere  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  That  its  position  was  far  above  the  ordi- 
nary level  of  the  country,  would  seem  to  be  clearly 
indicated  by  the  fact,  that  100  days  were  required  for 
the  further  subsidence  of  the  waters  ;  and  if  it  occu- 
pied so  elevated  a  position,  it  must  of  course  have 
been  upon  the  side  or  top  of  some  mountain. 

"If  the  olive  was  not  situated  on  a  primitive  moun- 
tain, which  remained  unchanged  by  the  deluge,  but 
upon  the  ordinary  soil,  there  was  ample  time,  within 
the  remaining  100  days,  for  its  destruction,  and  for 
any  imaginable  extent  of  changes.  If  the  leaf  was 
plucked  by  the  dove  from  a  tree  still  standing  in  its 
natural  position,  probably  the  uppermost  branches  only 
were  exposed  above  the  surface  of  the  water ;  for  it 
was  but  seven  days  before  that  the  dove  found  no  rest 
for  the  sole  of  her  foot — for  the  waters  were  on  the  face 
of  the  whole  earth.  Whatever  changes  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  earth  the  flood  may  have  occasioned, 
were  perhaps  more  likely  to  be  effected  towards  the 
last  stages  of  its  subsidence  than  at  an  earlier  period. 


29-i  APPENDIX. 

"It  therefore  does  not  follow,  from  this  remarkable 
fact  in  the  narrative,  that  the  flood  produced  no  con- 
siderable effects  in  the  condition  of  the  earth.  Its 
effects,  whatever  they  were,  may,  for  the  most  part, 
have  taken  place,  universally,  or  in  particular  regions, 
after  the  ark  was  securely  seated  on  its  resting  place  ; 
and  even  after  the  plucking  of  the  olive  leaf. 

"The  observation  of  Mr.  Lyell,  'that  in  the  narrative 
of  Moses  there  are  no  terms  employed  that  indicate 
the  impetuous  rushing  of  the  waters,  either  as  they 
rose,  or  when  they  retired,  is  far  stronger  than  the 
case  will  justly  admit.  The  narrative  includes  such 
terms  and  phrases  as  the  following  :  "  I  will  destroy 
them  with  the  earth — I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the 
earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  and  every  living 
substance  that  I  have  made  will  I  destroy  from  off 
the  face  of  the  earth  ; — all  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened — and  the  waters  prevailed  and  increased  greatly 
upon  the  earth — and  all  the  high  hills  that  were  under 
the  whole  heaven  were  covered- — and  the  mountains 
were  covered — and  Orod  made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the 
earth,  and  the  waters  were  assuaged;  the  fountains 
also  of  the  deep,  and  the  windows  of  heaven,  were 
stopped,  and  the  rain  from  heaven  was  restrained  ; 
and  the  waters  returned  from  the  earth  continually — 
and  the  Lord  said,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground 
any  more  for  man's  sake;  neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut 


APPENDIX.  295 

oft'  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood ;  neither  shall 
there  any  more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth." 

"Now,  whether  in  so  very  brief  a  narrative  of  the 
means  and  operations  employed  in  a  catastrophe  of  a 
year's  duration,  which  destroyed  every  thing  that  h&d 
life,  such  a  statement  as  that  all  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  were  broken  up,  does  not  indicate  vast  and 
universal  convulsions  throughout  the  regions  of  the 
ocean,  might  at  least  be  matter  of  question  even  to  a 
geologist.  If  the  statement  was  intended  in  any  de- 
gree to  account  for  the  extent  of  the  deluge,  or  to  in- 
dicate the  supply  of  waters  required  by  the  curse  pre- 
viously denounced  upon  the  earth,  then  it  is  but  just 
to  consider  it  as  indicating  the  most  stupendous  and 
universal  action  of  the  waters  which  can  be  conceived 
of ;  and  especially,  since  the  breaking  up  of  all  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  was  coincident  with  the  outpourT 
ing  of  such  a  rain  during  forty  days  and  nights,  as  to 
call  for  the  expression  in  the  narrative,  "  the  windows 
of  heaven  were  opened." 

"It  is  not  until  after  the  flood  had  attained  its  ut- 
most height  that  we  are  informed  that  the  fountains 
of  the  deep  were  stopped.  The  eruptions,  or  other 
violent  action  in  and  beneath  the  ocean,  would  seem, 
therefore,  to  have  continued  as  long  as  the  waters  con- 
tinued to  rise  over  the  land.  Then,  brief  as  the  nar- 
rative is,  another  agent  is  mentioned  as  being  intro- 
duced and  employed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  driving  the 
waters  off  from  the  land.      "  G-od  made  a  wind  to  pass 


296  APPENDIX. 

over  the  earth,  and  the  waters  were  assuaged."  The 
effects  produced  by  this  agent  are  the  counterpart  of 
those  produced  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of 
the  deep,  and  may  have  been  of  like  extent  and  vio- 
lence. If  the  one  was  necessary  to  the  raising  of  the 
waters,  the  other  was  equally  necessary  to  assuage 
them.  If  agitation  and  violence  attended  their  rising, 
why  should  they  not  much  more  attend  their  sub- 
sidence, since  the  agent  employed  in  the  latter  opera- 
tion is  known  to  be  capable  of  producing  effects  of  that 
nature  to  any  conceivable  extent  ?  And  why  should 
such  an  agent  be  specially  introduced  and  announced, 
if  a  gradual  and  tranquil  subsidence  took  place  ? 
"But  what  degree  of  coolness  must  a  geologist  have, 
to  contemplate  such  a  description  of  a  deluge,  caused 
by  the  breaking  up  of  all  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  and  the  incessant  pouring  down  of  rain  for  forty 
days  and  nights,  on  the  unequal  surfaces  of  the  earth, 
and  perceive  no  likelihood  of  any  torrents,  any  im- 
petuous rushing  of  water,  being  occasioned  ;  a  geolo- 
gist who  can  satisfy  himself  that  the  ordinary  action 
of  water,  with  the  aid  of  the  atmosphere,  has  in  course 
of  time  worn  down  solid  crystalline  rocks  enough  to 
constitute  the  whole  mass  of  stratifications  ;  a  geolo- 
gist, who  must  have  witnessed  the  effects  of  an  ordi- 
nary  rain  continued  for  three  or  four  days,  in  overflow- 
ing the  channels  of  rivers,  swelling  creekr?  into  tor- 
rents, uprooting  trees,  excavating  the  soil,  and  inun- 
dating the  lower  levels  of  the  region  ;  a  geologist,  in 


APPENDIX. 


297 


short,  who   can   discern   the  mighty  effects  of  small 
causes,  if  they  are  but  natural  and   philosophical,  but 
who   declines  all  consideration  of  causes   not  in  that 
category. 
"Now,  if  any  part  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  De- 
luge is  to  be  taken  as  meaning  what  it  appears  to 
mean  ;  if  that  visitation  was  a  curse   previously  de- 
nounced by  the  Creator  and    Moral  Governor  of  the 
world  ;  if  it  was  executed  by  his  own  direct  interposi- 
tion, causing  a  preternatural  rain  of  forty  days,  and 
breaking  up  the  fountains  of  the  deep  ;  if  the  tenants 
of  the  ark  were   preserved,  during  twelve  months,  in 
their  pent-up  condition  ;  if  the  ark  itself  was  preserved 
and  safely  grounded  on  an  elevation  above  the  reach 
of  the  agitations  and  convulsions  which  attended  the 
subsidence  of  the  waters  ;   if  these  things  took  place, 
then  the   same  power  which  created   the  world  was 
specially  or  supernaturally  exerted  on   this  occasion  ; 
the  operations,  to  whatever  extent  they  may  appear  to 
have  been  in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  nature,  or  the 
ordinary  effects  of    second    causes,   were  miraculous, 
and  if  miraculous,  the  magnitude  of  the  results  cannot 
be  urged  as  an  objection  to  the  mode  of  their  produc- 
tion.    Nor  can  the  details  comprised  in  those  opera- 
tions,  any   more   than   the   extent   of   the   operations 
themselves,  supposing  them  to  have  included  all  the 
principal  changes  in  the  crust  of  the  globe,  be  urged 
as  an  objection.     It   is   as  conceivable  and  as  credible 
that   the    materials    of    the    sedimentary    formations 
1 3* 


298 


APPENDIX. 


should,  by  miraculous  interposition,  be  separated,  dis- 
posed in  layers  or  beds,  and  solidified  in  a  rapid  as  in 
a  gradual  manner.  Indeed,  with  respect  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  results,  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  con- 
ceivable that  they  should  ever  have  been  produced  by 
a  slow  process. 

"If  the  Scripture  narrative  of  the  Deluge  be  admitted, 
and  if  it  involved  a  miracle,  then  the  geological  theory 
cannot  be  maintained  ;  for  that  account  includes  a  de- 
nunciation and  a  reason  for  the  catastrophe,  which,  on 
the  geological  theory,  have  had  no  accomplishment. 
And  here  is  the  point  where  geology  and  the  Bible  are 
at  issue.  It  is  because  the  geologist  assumes  to  ac- 
count for  the  phenomena  of  the  earth  by  ordinary  se- 
cond causes,  to  the  exclusion  of  preternatural  interpo- 
sitions, and  to  treat  the  subject  as  though  it  were 
wholly  independent  of  moral  causes,  wholly  discon- 
nected from  man,  and  from  moral  government,  that 
his  speculations  unavoidably  conflict  with  the  Bible, 
and  carry  him  into  the  field  of  skepticism  ;  where,  if  he 
does  not  openly  reject  the  whole  of  the  sacred  records, 
he  rejects,  or  puts  such  construction  on  portions  of 
them,  as  virtually  to  discredit  and  subvert  the  rest. 

"The  suggestions  and  arguments  of  Dr.  Smith  in  op- 
position to  the  universality  of  the  Deluge,  and  to  the 
supposition  of  its  having  produced  any  considerable 
effects,  are  only  such  as  might  be  expected  from  a 
writer  under  the  double  spell  of  a  preconceived  and 
favorite  notion  of  a  local  and  temporary  submergence 


APPENDIX.  299 

of  a  certain  region  in  Asia,  and  of  the  theory  which 
assigns  to  the  changes  in  the  earth  an  inconceivable 
antiquity  ;  and  are  deemed  unworthy  of  any  particular 
notice.  Were  his  views  to  be  taken  as  correct,  a  great 
deal  more  sagacity  than  they  indicate  would  be  neces- 
sary, to  devise  any  tolerable  reason  why  120  years  of 
preparation  for  the  event  was  necessary,  or  why  an 
Ark  should  have  been  constructed  at  all  for  the  pre- 
servation of  eight  persons  and  certain  animals,  includ- 
ing the  winged  tribes.  They  might  have  all  migrated 
from  the  scene  of  his  local  deluge,  probably  in  three 
or  four  weeks  ;  and  unless  the  Indian  Ocean  was  raised 
very  suddenly,  and  at  the  same  time  that  the  region 
to  be  deluged  settled  down,  so  as  to  pour  its  waters  at 
once  into  the  cavity,  instead  of  requiring  six  months 
for  that  operation,  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  and 
animals  might  have  escaped  as  well  as  Noah.  More- 
over, if  such  a  region  settled  down,  and  such  an  ocean 
was  poured  into  it,  what  occasion  could  there  have 
been  to  increase  the  supply  of  water  by  opening  the 
windows  of  heaven  and  pouring  down  rain  for  forty  days 
and  nights  ?  He  quite  trembles  at  the  idea  that  a 
miracle  should  be  supposed  to  account  for  any  of  the 
facts  of  an  universal  Deluge  ;  and  yet  his  own  theory 
involves  or  needs  ten  miracles  to  one  required  by  the 
Scripture  narrative.  But  the  whole  of  his  views  on 
this  subject  are  utterly  puerile,  if  there  was  anything 
preternatural  in  the  Deluge  itself  or  in  any  of  its 
effects,  and  if  there  was  nothing  preternatural  in  the 


300  APPENDIX. 

case,  the  Scripture  account  may  as  well  be  given  up 
first  as  last.  If  there  was  a  miracle,  it  may  just  as 
well  have  been  a  large  as  a  small  one  ;  and  doubtless 
was  as  large  and  as  comprehensive  as  the  occasion  re- 
quired. The  whole  matter  turns  upon  this  :  was  there 
a  reason,  as  the  Scriptures  clearly  intimate,  for  an  uni- 
versal Deluge  ?  If  there  was,  and  until  it  can  be  de- 
monstrated that  there  was  not,  it  is  idle,  not  to  say  im- 
pious, in  man  to  array  his  petty  objections  to  the 
possibility  of  its  occurrence. 

"The  facts  of  G-eology  are  not  to  be  deni  ed.  That 
the  stratified  rocks,  with  their  fossil  remains,  have  been 
deposited  since  the  creation,  is  past  all  doubts.  This 
is  the  leading  fact.  The  details  comprised  in  it  may 
puzzle  and  confound  human  reason  and  science,  and 
occasion  every  variety  of  construction  and  hypothesis, 
without  resulting  in  anything  conclusive  or  satis- 
factory. The  great  question  is,  What  was  the  occa- 
sion or  reason  of  these  changes  ?  If  there  was  a  moral 
reason  for  them,  then  they  must  have  taken  place 
since  the  creation  and  fall  of  man.  If  the  reason  is 
founded  in  his  apostacy,  then  so  far  as  the  Scriptures 
enlighten  us  upon  the  subject,  it  is  safe  to  conclude 
that  the  Noachic  Deluge  was  the  means,  or  among  the 
means,  by  which  the  changes  were  effected  ;  and  in 
that  case  there  can  be  no  more  objection  to  our  sup- 
posing a  supernatural  interposition  to  the  extent  re- 
quired to  account  for  the  results,  than  there  is  to  our 

believing  in  any  miracle  recorded  in  Scripture. 


APPENDIX.  301 

"The  Scriptures  tell  us  once,  and  but  once,  of  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  being  broken  up.  Geology 
indicates  a  change  in  the  locality  of  the  seas.  The 
depth  of  the  sedimentary  deposits  is  to  the  diameter  of 
the  globe  as  the  thickness  of  a  coat  of  varnish  to  an 
artificial  globe.  Now,  with  such  a  reason  for  it  as  the 
apostacy  of  man,  it  requires  no  great  stretch  of  ima- 
gination to  conceive  that  the  breaking  up  of  all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep,  with  the  other  operations 
connected  with  the  Deluge,  the  mechanical  and  che- 
mical agencies,  and  electric  and  igneous  forces,  should 
have  thrown  all  the  materials  of  the  sedimentary  de- 
posits into  a  state  of  solution  and  suspension  in  the 
waters,  distributed  those  materials  into  homogeneous 
strata,  diffused  the  fossil  relics,  changed  the  locality 
of  the  seas,  and  peradventure  left  the  superficial  area 
of  ocean  water  several  times  as  great  as  it  was  before. 
This  reason,  if  it  was  a  reason  at  all,  was  sufficient  to 
occasion  all  the  results  which  geology  can  point  nut. 

"If  the  apostacy  of  man  furnishes  the  reason  for  the 
physical  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  earth  ;  if  those  changes  fitted  it  for  the 
abode  of  a  fallen  race  ;  if,  pursuant  to  the  wondrous  in- 
tervention for  man's  recovery,  of  Him  by  and  for  whom 
the  earth  was  created,  it  is  yet  to  be  renovated  and 
restored  to  its  primitive  state,  and  thence  to  be  the 
abode  only  of  holy  and  harmless  beings,  then  is  the 
subject  cleared  of  all  inherent  and  essential  difficulties. 
Its  moral  requisites  are  satisfied,  which  is  first  and 


302  APPENDIX. 

chiefly  indispensable,  in  a  matter  involving  the 
creation,  character,  condition  and  history  of  rational 
and  accountable  creatures,  as  well  as  the  creation  and 
condition  of  the  earth  itself,  and  of  its  irrational  inha- 
bitants. If  there  remain  physical  phenomena  which 
science  cannot  explain,  so  there  are  upon  the  popular 
theory,  and  upon  every  theory.  The  complaint  is, 
that  science  is  not  content  to  keep  within  its  limited 
and  appropriate  province.  Can  science  offer  any  ex- 
planation as  to  "  the  first  introduction  of  a  moral  and 
intellectual  being"  on  the  earth  ?  or  as  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  moral  evil,  by  which  his  character  and  con- 
dition are,  by  the  concession  of  all,  so  much  affected  ? 
or  as  to  the  line,  if  there  be  one,  which  separates  the 
purpose,  province,  and  administration  of  moral  govern- 
ment, from  that  which  the  Creator  exercises  over 
matter  and  irrational  creatures?  Upon  these  and 
innumerable  other  questions,  connected  more  or  less 
directly  with  the  phenomena  and  physical  condition 
of  the  earth,  science  is  necessarily  mute. 
"Let  it  be  considered  that  if  there  was  such  a  moral 
reason  for  the  changes  in  the  earth,  it  is  no  more  in- 
cumbent on  those  who  believe  that  reason  to  be  in- 
dicated in  the  Scriptures,  to  account  for  the  mode  in 
which  the  changes  were  effected,  or  to  specify  the  in- 
strumentalities employed,  that  it  is  to  account  for  the 
creation,  the  fall  of  man,  the  resurrection,  or  any  other 
extraordinary  event  or  procedure  in  the  Divine  admin- 
istration.    "We  have  an  account  of  the  Deluge  and  of 


APPENDIX.  303 

the  reason  for  that  visitation,  which  will  at  least  allow 
of  the  supposition  of  the  changes  in  question  having 
been  produced  by  its  instrumentality  and  in  connec- 
tion with  it.  It  furnished  the  medium,  water,  which 
all  allow  to  have  been  employed  in  those  changes.  If 
any  of  the  phenomena  attending  it  were  supernatural, 
the  shortness  of  the  time  of  its  duration,  considered  in 
relation  to  the  magnitude  of  the  results,  can  no  more 
reasonably  be  urged  as  an  objection,  than  the  portion 
of  time  occupied  in  the  creation  can  be  urged  as  insuffi- 
cient for  the  accomplishment  of  that  work.  It  is  the 
only  event  recorded  in  Scripture  to  which  the  changes 
can  be  assigned  ;  and  if  it  does  not  indicate  the  means 
and  the  occasion,  we  are  without  any  historical  notice 
of  either.  Here  it  were  the  part  of  wisdom  to  pause. 
If  to  the  mind  of  a  geologist  objections  occur  founded  on 
the  phenomena  which  he  observes ;  if  he  cannot  reconcile 
those  phenomena  with  the  supposition  that  the  changes 
took  place  in  connection  with  the  Deluge,  whether  on 
account  of  their  character  or  extent,  let  him  consider 
the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  his  own  theory,  and  the  still 
greater  difficulties  which  attend  its  bearing  on  Divine 
Revelation." 


304  APPENDIX. 


B. 


The  following  extracts  are  derived  from,  and  ought 
strongly  to  recommend  the  valuable  work  of  Dr.  An- 
derson. 

"  It  has  been  no  part  of  our  vocation  in  these  in- 
vestigations to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  a  material 
universe, — what  was  its  pre-existent  state,  and  by 
what  process  this  globe  at  first  was  brought  into 
an  earthy,  concrete  form.  Astronomy  has  tried  va- 
rious solutions.  But  whether  by  the  splintering 
of  other  worlds,  or  the  evolution  of  matter  from  a  Sa- 
turnian  ring,  or  the  condensation  of  gaseous  star- 
dust  diffused  through  infinite  space,  no  astronomical 
hypothesis  has  proved  satisfactory.  Geology  is  better 
employed  when  she  assumes  a  beginning  to  her  re- 
searches upon  the  visible  crust  of  the  globe.  The 
mystery  of  creation  is  not  within  the  range  of  her  le- 
gitimate territory  ;  and  while  the  investigation  of 
laws,  and  of  the  influence  of  secondary  causes,  falls 
within  the  province  of  both,  it  may  be  safely  admitted 
that  neither  astronomy  nor  geology  are,  of  themselves, 
capable  of  giving  us  any  real  or  precise  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  universe,  or  of  any  of  its  parish — 
Part  4,  Chap.  i. 

"When  the  geologist  proceeds  systematically  to 
trace  the  series  of  these  phenomena,  to  ascertain  their 


APPENDIX.  305 

causes,  and  to  connect  together  all  the  indications  of 
change  that  are  found  in  the  organic  and  inorganic 
kingdoms  of  nature,  he  attempts  the  structure  of  a 
Theory  of  Creation,  which  shall  embrace  the  whole 
course  of  the  world,  from  the  earliest  to  the  present 
times  ;  and  which,  it  may  be  reasonably  concluded, 
may  be  resolved  into  one  great  cycle,  yet  unfinished. 
But  for  this  the  materials  of  the  science  are  by  no 
means  prepared,  nor  is  its  progress  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced."— Ibid. 

"  There  are  many  points  and  questions  of  the  deep- 
est importance,  that  are  far  from  being  satisfactorily 
determined  ; — the  progress  of  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  for  example,  is  supposed  to  correspond  with  the 
varying  conditions  and  changes  of  the  earth's  surface, 
when  the  races  are  summoned  into  existence,  not  at 
once,  nor  after  short  intervals,  but  successively,  and 
after  ages  of  unfathomable  extent.  The  record,  even 
as  a  chronicle  of  mere  life  and  death,  is  a  marvellous 
one,  full  of  singular  revelations,  and  disclosing  types 
of  organized  being  that  have  long  been  obliterated. 
But  when,  as  yet,  there  was  no  rational  head  in  this 
mundane  scene,  the  assumption  is,  that  the  inferior 
tribes  were  for  Millions  of  years  the  sole  living  occu- 
pants of  the  planet  !  Can  all  the  data  be  sound, 
rightly  understood,  and  properly  interpreted,  that  lead 
to  such  conclusions  ?  The  epic  of  this  lengthened  se- 
ries of  events  is  yet,  it  may  be  said,  without  a  hero. 
The    tragedv   of   wild   revolution    and   carnage    lacks 


306  APPENDIX. 

romance  in  the  monotony  of  its  devastation  ;  and  des- 
titute alike  of  a  moral,  and  of  a  fitting  audience,  the 
brilliancy  of  the  representation  loses  half  its  attrac- 
tions in  losing  all  its  humanity. 

"  One  established  principle  of  the  Science,  connected 
with  this  point,  is,  that  there  are  certain  groups  of  an- 
imal species  found  fossil  in  the  different  sets  of  strata 
which  compose  the  earth's  crust,  and  that  these  de- 
monstrate something  like  a  series  of  distinct  faunas, 
corresponding  to  the  number  of  formations.  Seven  or 
eight  sets  of  rocks,  at  least,  are  as  distinctly  character- 
ized by  particular  sets  of  fossils.  But  the  exceptions 
to  the  law  are  likewise  very  numerous,  inasmuch  as 
both  species  and  genera  have  been  carried  forward,  and 
are  identically  the  same,  from  one  formation  and 
epoch  into  another.  Hence,  points,  neither  of  differ- 
ence nor  of  resemblance,  from  age  to  age,  are  absolute, 
and  cannot  very  minutely  be  applied  as  regards  the 
several  formations  and  their  organic  contents.  The 
types  of  one  formation  are  repeatedly  mingled  with 
those  of  another  ;  and  the  value  of  all  the  evidence 
collected  from  fossil  remains,  while  it  establishes  un- 
deniably a  succession  in  the  mineral  deposits,  leaves 
the  question  as  to  the  limits  of  the  epochs,  and  their 
relation  to  Time,  still  partially  undetermined.  The 
theory  of  progressive  development,  or  that  of  inde- 
pendent acts  of  creation — the  causes  of  the  extinction 
of  old  and  the  introduction  of  new  races — the  extent 
■of  time   implied   or   indicated   in   the  whole  series  of 


APPENDIX.  307 

events — and  the  all-important  point  involved  in  this 
chronology — whether  all  or  any  of  the  geological  se- 
ries are  alluded  to  in  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation, — 
are  questions  that  necessarily  press  upon  the  atten- 
tion, as  we  would  solve  or  not  the  inquiries  suggested. 
The  sounding  line  of  geology  is  not  to  be  despised  or 
cast  at  once  aside,  should  it  fail  in  furnishing  a  just 
estimate  and  measure  of  such  profound  investigations. 
Every  failure  will  only  prove  a  stimulus  to  renewed 
exertion,  as  every  discovered  path  of  error  leads  one  step 
in  advance  towards  the  path  of  truth,  and  that  in 
turn  to  harmony  with  the  Book  of  all  Truth." — Ibid. 
[Poor  consolation  to  a  world  which  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now  !  Poor  consola- 
tion, if  the  truth  at  last  to  be  fished  up  by  the 
sounding  line  of  geology,  is  of  any  real  importance  !] 

"  Since  accurate  observations  are  more  and  more 
multiplied,  and  the  principles  of  paleontology  are  bet- 
ter understood,  the  doctrine  of  a  gradual  advance  of 
animal  organization  toward  higher  and  more  perfect 
forms,  as  we  ascend  through  successive  deposits  of  the 
earth's  crust,  is  daily  losing  ground  among  the  culti- 
vators of  the  Science." 
"We  quote  the  following  cautionary  remark  of  Pro- 
fessor Pielet  : — "  We  ought  not  to  be  too  hasty  in 
assuming  the  absence  of  certain  more  perfect  types  in 
the  older  faunas,  merely  because  we  have  not  yet  dis- 
covered any  remains  of  them.  We  hardly  know  any- 
fchinc  of  these  faunas,  except  with  regard  to  some  of 


308  APPENDIX. 

the  inhabitants  of  the  sea ;  and  it  is  well  known  that 
in  the  present  condition  of  the  globe,  those  animals 
living  on  land  exhibit  the  higher  forms  of  structure. 
Is  it  not  possible  that,  in  these  first  ages  of  the  world, 
terrestrial  animals  also  existed,  more  highly  organized 
than  their  marine  cotemporaries,  although  their  re- 
mains either  have  not  been  preserved,  or  are  still  to 
be  discovered?"— Ibid.,  Part  4,  Chap.  2. 

"In  the  very  earliest  specimens  of  Nature's  work- 
manship, we  find  the  mechanism  of  the  parts  as  mi- 
nute, varied,  and  multiplied,  as  in  those  of  her  most 
recent  productions.  Examine  the  eye  of  the  Trilobite, 
the  oldest  of  the  crustaceous,  and  the  distinguishing 
type  of  the  lowest  of  the  fossiliferous  rocks.  These 
creatures  swarmed  in  the  Silurian  seas.  Their  desti- 
ny was  not  fulfilled  by  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  pe- 
riods, for  they  still  exist.  But  in  none  of  her  subse- 
quent creations  has  nature  displayed  greater  elabora- 
tion in  the  parts,  or  more  skilful  adaptive  contrivance 
in  their  arrangements,  than  in  the  visual  organ  of  this 
palseozoie  family.  The  eye  of  the  trilobite  is  formed 
of  four  hundred  spherical  lenses,  arranged  in  distinct 
compartments  on  the  surface  of  the  cornea,  which 
again  projects  conically  upward,  so  as  to  enable  the 
animal,  while  resting  or  seeking  its  food  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  waters,  to  take  in  the  largest  possible  field 
of  view.  Fishes,  birds,  and  mammals  have  all,  it  is 
well  known,  an  optical  apparatus  precisely  adjusted 
to   their   respective   habits  and  the  element  in  which 


APPENDIX.  309 

they  live.  Fishes  and  fowls  have  their  eyes  different- 
ly constructed.  The  bat,  which  preys  in  the  dark — 
the  eagle,  which  soars  in  the  blaze  of  the  sun — and 
the  mole,  which  burrows  in  the  earth,  have  each  pe- 
culiar and  appropriate  organisms.  But  in  none  is 
there  greater  complication  or  perfection  than  what 
is  manifested  in  the  eye  of  those  earliest  and  still 
living  tribes  of  the  waters." — Ibid. 

"  Geology  carries  us  back  to  the  beginnings  of  or- 
ganic life,  when  animals,  each  after  their  kind,  were 
already  perfected  and  endowed  with  a  ready  made  ap- 
paratus for  the  particular  sphere  of  existence  assigned 
them.  Every  great  type  or  class  of  being,  whose  re- 
mains are  detected  in  the  most  ancient  rocks  of  the 
earth,  has  still  its  representatives  in  living  nature. 
The  two  ends  of  the  chain,  the  infusorial  and  mam- 
malian families,  are  still  produced  distinct,  and  each 
perfect  after  its  kind. — "Ibid.,  Part  4,  Chap.  2. 


310  APPENDIX. 


c. 


"  It  does  not  follow,  because  a  man  is  eminent  in 
geology,  that  his  opinion  is  of  any  real  value  upon 
the  religion  of  geology  ; — for  the  two  subjects  are  quite 
distinct,  and  a  man  may  be  a  Corypheus  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  geology,  who  is  an  ignoramus  in  its  religious 
applications.  Indeed,  many  of  the  ablest  writers 
upon  geology,  take  the  ground  that  its  religious  bear- 
ings do  not  belong  to  the  Science. 

"  The  Theological  Seminaries  of  our  country  do 
need,  it  seems  to  me,  professorships  of  Natural  Theo- 
logy, to  be  filled  by  men  who  are  practically  familiar 
with  the  Natural  Sciences.  They  are  amply  provided 
with  instruction  in  the  metaphysics  of  theology,  her- 
meneutics,  and  ecclesiastical  history  ;  and  I  should  be 
sorry  to  see  these  departments  less  amply  provided 
for.  But  here  is  the  wide  field  of  natural  theology, 
large  enough  for  several  professorships,  which  finds  no 
place,  save  a  nook  in  the  chair  of  dogmatics.  This 
might  have  answered  well  enough  when  the  battle- 
field with  scepticism  lay  in  the  region  of  metaphysics, 
or  history,  or  biblical  interpretation.  But  the  enemy 
have,  within  a  few  years  past,  intrenched  themselves 
within  the  dominions  of  natural  science  ;  and  there, 
for  a  long  time  to  come,  must  be  the  tug  of  war. 
And  since  they  have  substituted  skeletons,  and  trees, 


APPENDIX.  311 

and  stones,  as  weapons,  in  the  place  of  abstractions, 
so  must  Christians  do  if  they  would  not  be  defeated. 
Although  I  fear  that  theologians  are  not  aware  of  the 
fact,  yet  probably  the  doctrines  of  materialism  are 
more  widely  embraced  at  this  day  than  almost  any 
other  religious  error.  I  might  refer,  in  this  connec- 
tion, to  the  whole  subject  of  Pantheism  ;  it  is  from 
biology  that  the  pantheist  derives  his  choicest 
weapons.  He  appeals  also  to  Astronomy,  Zoology, 
and  Geology." — Preface  to  Doct.  Hitchcock's  Reli- 
gion  of  Geology. 


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